Reduced level cell mode for non-volatile memory

ABSTRACT

Apparatuses, systems, methods, and computer program products are disclosed for reduced level cell solid-state storage. A method includes determining that an erase block of a non-volatile storage device is to operate in a reduced level cell (RLC) mode. The non-volatile storage device may be configured to store at least three bits of data per storage cell. A method includes instructing the non-volatile storage device to program first and second pages of the erase block with data. A method includes instructing the non-volatile storage device to program a third page of the erase block with a predefined data pattern. Programming of a predefined data pattern may be configured to adjust which abodes of the erase block are available to represent stored user data values.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This is a continuation-in-part application of and claims priority toU.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/609,527 entitled “APPARATUS, SYSTEM,AND METHOD FOR USING MULTI-LEVEL CELL, SOLID-STATE STORAGE ASREDUCED-LEVEL CELL SOLID-STATE STORAGE” and filed on Sep. 11, 2012 forRobert Wood, et al., which claims priority to U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 13/175,637 entitled “APPARATUS, SYSTEM, AND METHOD FOR USINGMULTI-LEVEL CELL STORAGE IN A SINGLE-LEVEL CELL MODE” and filed on Jul.1, 2011 for Robert Wood, et al., and to U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/724,401 entitled “APPARATUS, SYSTEM, AND METHOD FOR USING MULTI-LEVELCELL SOLID-STATE STORAGE AS SINGLE-LEVEL CELL SOLID-STATE STORAGE” andfiled on Mar. 15, 2010 for Jonathan Thatcher, et al., each of which areincorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure, in various embodiments, relates to endurance ofnon-volatile memory cells and more particularly relates to operatingnon-volatile memory in a reduced level cell (RLC) mode to increaseendurance.

BACKGROUND

Certain flash memory and other solid-state storage devices implementmulti-level cell (MLC) memory elements, triple level cell (TLC) memoryelements, or the like to store multiple bits of data in the same memorycell. In general, MLC and TLC memory elements are programmable tomultiple states, which are each characterized by separate voltagethresholds. As an example, a two-bit MLC memory element can beprogrammed to one of four different states or a three-bit TLC memoryelement can be programmed to one of eight different states, with eachstate corresponding to a unique voltage range.

Storing multiple bits of data in the same memory element increases thecapacity of the flash memory. However, this approach may also decreasethe longevity of a device in various ways, such as reducing the numberof times each memory element can be accurately written, the number oftimes each memory element can be accurately read per write, and theability to maintain the accuracy of the data, for example, when theflash memory is not powered, is operating at high temperatures, or underother conditions. While the availability of increased capacity may drivethe use of MLC memory elements, TLC memory elements, or beyond in flashmemory, the possibility of decreased accuracy or product life can be adeterrent. By way of comparison, single-level cell (SLC) memory elementsmay have better accuracy and/or longer life, but are typically moreexpensive per bit.

SUMMARY

Methods are presented for a reduced level cell (RLC) mode. In oneembodiment, a method includes determining that an erase block of anon-volatile storage device is to operate in a RLC mode. A non-volatilestorage device, in certain embodiments, may be configured to store atleast three bits of data per storage cell. A method, in a furtherembodiment, includes instructing a non-volatile storage device toprogram a first page of an erase block with data. A method, in oneembodiment, includes instructing a non-volatile storage device toprogram a second page of an erase block with data. In anotherembodiment, a method includes instructing a non-volatile storage deviceto program a third page of an erase block with a predefined datapattern. Programming of a predefined data pattern, in certainembodiments, may be configured to adjust which abodes of an erase blockare available to represent stored user data values. First, second, andthird pages, in one embodiment, are associated with the same set ofstorage cells of an erase block.

Other methods are presented for a RLC mode. A method, in one embodiment,includes receiving a write command to write data to an electronic memorydevice having multi-level cell (MLC) memory elements. A MLC memoryelement, in certain embodiments, is programmable to programming statesin a MLC mode. Programming states in a MLC mode, in one embodiment, areassociated with at least a two bit encoding. A method, in a furtherembodiment, includes programming at least one MLC memory element to oneof a plurality of programming states in a RLC mode. Programming statesin a RLC mode, in one embodiment, exclude at least one programming statein a MLC mode. In a further embodiment, programming states in a RLC modemay comprise first and second states used to represent a mostsignificant bit (MSB) of at least a two bit encoding in a MLC mode.

Apparatuses are presented for a RLC mode. In one embodiment, a triggermodule is configured to determine whether an error rate for a set ofnon-volatile memory cells satisfies an error threshold. A programmodule, in certain embodiments, is configured to write workload data toone or more lower and middle pages of a set of memory cells. Each memorycell, in one embodiment, is configured to represent at least three bitsof data by way of one of a set of program states. In a furtherembodiment, an endurance module is configured to write an endurance datapattern to an upper page of a set of memory cells instead of workloaddata in response to an error rate satisfying an error threshold, therebydefining a subset of program states of a set of memory cells forencoding workload data.

A further apparatus is presented for a RLC mode. A trigger module, inone embodiment, is configured to monitor an error rate for a region ofnon-volatile recording cells. Each recording cell, in certainembodiments, is configured to encode at least three bits of data using aset of abodes. In a further embodiment, a program module is configuredto cause user data to be programmed to recording cells for two bits ofat least three bits of data. An endurance module, in one embodiment, isconfigured to adjust one or more thresholds for abodes of recordingcells in response to an error rate satisfying an error threshold toprovide one or more separation distances between a subset of abodesavailable for encoding two bits of at least three bits of data.

Other apparatuses are presented for a RLC mode. In one embodiment, anapparatus includes means for initiating a RLC mode for a region of TLCnon-volatile storage cells. An apparatus, in a further embodiment,includes means for programming a MSB page of a region of storage cellswith a predefined data pattern configured to determine which TLC abodesof the region of storage cells are available for valid data in a RLCmode. In certain embodiments, an apparatus includes means for providingat least a predefined separation distance between TLC abodes availablefor valid data in a RLC mode.

Computer program products are presented comprising a computer readablestorage medium storing computer usable program code executable toperform operations for a RLC mode. In one embodiment, an operationincludes detecting that an endurance threshold for an erase block of anon-volatile recording medium has been met. An operation, in anotherembodiment, includes reducing a number of programming states of an eraseblock available for user data in response to an endurance thresholdbeing met. In a further embodiment, an operation includes programming anupper page of an erase block with non-user data configured to mask oneor more programming states unavailable for user data.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order that the advantages of the disclosure will be readilyunderstood, a more particular description of the disclosure brieflydescribed above will be rendered by reference to specific embodimentsthat are illustrated in the appended drawings. Understanding that thesedrawings depict only typical embodiments of the disclosure and are nottherefore to be considered to be limiting of its scope, the disclosurewill be described and explained with additional specificity and detailthrough the use of the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram illustrating one embodiment of asystem for a reduced level cell mode;

FIG. 2A is a schematic block diagram illustrating one embodiment of areduced level cell module;

FIG. 2B is a schematic block diagram illustrating another embodiment ofa reduced level cell module;

FIG. 3 is a schematic flow chart diagram illustrating one embodiment ofa method for a reduced level cell mode;

FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram illustrating one embodiment of atriple level memory cell;

FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram illustrating one embodiment of anupper page comprising audit data and a middle page and lower pagecomprising data;

FIG. 6 is a schematic block diagram illustrating one embodiment ofvoltage levels in a multi-level memory cell and an associatedprogramming model;

FIG. 7 is a schematic block diagram illustrating one embodiment of asystem for storing data in a multi-level memory cell;

FIG. 8 is a schematic flow chart diagram illustrating one embodiment ofa method for using audit data to perform error checking;

FIG. 9A is a graphical diagram of voltage distributions which constitutedifferent programming states of a programming model;

FIG. 9B is a graphical diagram of programming states of one embodimentof a programming model;

FIG. 9C illustrates a graphical diagram of programming states of oneembodiment of a programming model;

FIG. 10A is a schematic block diagram illustrating one embodiment of anarray of storage elements of non-volatile memory media;

FIG. 10B is a schematic block diagram illustrating another embodiment ofan array of storage elements of non-volatile memory media;

FIG. 11A is a graph illustrating one embodiment of states in cells of anon-volatile memory device;

FIG. 11B is a table illustrating one embodiment of an encoding ofmultiple bits by a cell of a non-volatile memory device;

FIG. 12 is a series of graphs illustrating states of an encoding modelfor triple level cell memory;

FIG. 13 is a schematic flow chart diagram illustrating one embodiment ofa method for a reduced level cell mode;

FIG. 14 is a schematic flow chart diagram illustrating anotherembodiment of a method for a reduced level cell mode; and

FIG. 15 is a schematic flow chart diagram illustrating a furtherembodiment of a method for a reduced level cell mode.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Aspects of the present disclosure may be embodied as a system, method orcomputer program product. Accordingly, aspects of the present disclosuremay take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirelysoftware embodiment (including firmware, resident software, micro-code,etc.) or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects that mayall generally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” “module” or“system.” Furthermore, aspects of the present disclosure may take theform of a computer program product embodied in one or more computerreadable storage media having computer readable program code embodiedthereon.

Many of the functional units described in this specification have beenlabeled as modules, in order to more particularly emphasize theirimplementation independence. For example, a module may be implemented asa hardware circuit comprising custom VLSI circuits or gate arrays,off-the-shelf semiconductors such as logic chips, transistors, or otherdiscrete components. A module may also be implemented in programmablehardware devices such as field programmable gate arrays, programmablearray logic, programmable logic devices or the like.

Modules may also be implemented in software for execution by varioustypes of processors. An identified module of executable code may, forinstance, comprise one or more physical or logical blocks of computerinstructions which may, for instance, be organized as an object,procedure, or function. Nevertheless, the executables of an identifiedmodule need not be physically located together, but may comprisedisparate instructions stored in different locations which, when joinedlogically together, comprise the module and achieve the stated purposefor the module.

Indeed, a module of executable code may be a single instruction, or manyinstructions, and may even be distributed over several different codesegments, among different programs, and across several memory devices.Similarly, operational data may be identified and illustrated hereinwithin modules, and may be embodied in any suitable form and organizedwithin any suitable type of data structure. The operational data may becollected as a single data set, or may be distributed over differentlocations including over different storage devices, and may exist, atleast partially, merely as electronic signals on a system or network.Where a module or portions of a module are implemented in software, thesoftware portions are stored on one or more computer readable storagemedia.

Any combination of one or more computer readable storage media may beutilized. A computer readable storage medium may be, for example, butnot limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic,infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitablecombination of the foregoing.

More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer readablestorage medium would include the following: a portable computerdiskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory(ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flashmemory), phase change memory (PRAM or PCM), a portable compact discread-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disc (DVD), a blu-raydisc, an optical storage device, a magnetic tape, a Bernoulli drive, amagnetic disk, a magnetic storage device, a punch card, integratedcircuits, other digital processing apparatus memory devices, or anysuitable combination of the foregoing, but would not include propagatingsignals. In the context of this document, a computer readable storagemedium may be any tangible medium that can contain, or store a programfor use by or in connection with an instruction execution system,apparatus, or device.

Computer program code for carrying out operations for aspects of thepresent disclosure may be written in any combination of one or moreprogramming languages, including an object oriented programming languagesuch as Java, Smalltalk, C++ or the like and conventional proceduralprogramming languages, such as the “C” programming language or similarprogramming languages. The program code may execute entirely on theuser's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alonesoftware package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remotecomputer or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latterscenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computerthrough any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or awide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an externalcomputer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet ServiceProvider).

Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment,” “anembodiment,” or similar language means that a particular feature,structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodimentis included in at least one embodiment of the present disclosure. Thus,appearances of the phrases “in one embodiment,” “in an embodiment,” andsimilar language throughout this specification may, but do notnecessarily, all refer to the same embodiment, but mean “one or more butnot all embodiments” unless expressly specified otherwise. The terms“including,” “comprising,” “having,” and variations thereof mean“including but not limited to” unless expressly specified otherwise. Anenumerated listing of items does not imply that any or all of the itemsare mutually exclusive and/or mutually inclusive, unless expresslyspecified otherwise. The terms “a,” “an,” and “the” also refer to “oneor more” unless expressly specified otherwise.

Furthermore, the described features, structures, or characteristics ofthe disclosure may be combined in any suitable manner in one or moreembodiments. In the following description, numerous specific details areprovided, such as examples of programming, software modules, userselections, network transactions, database queries, database structures,hardware modules, hardware circuits, hardware chips, etc., to provide athorough understanding of embodiments of the disclosure. However, thedisclosure may be practiced without one or more of the specific details,or with other methods, components, materials, and so forth. In otherinstances, well-known structures, materials, or operations are not shownor described in detail to avoid obscuring aspects of the disclosure.

Aspects of the present disclosure are described below with reference toschematic flowchart diagrams and/or schematic block diagrams of methods,apparatuses, systems, and computer program products according toembodiments of the disclosure. It will be understood that each block ofthe schematic flowchart diagrams and/or schematic block diagrams, andcombinations of blocks in the schematic flowchart diagrams and/orschematic block diagrams, can be implemented by computer programinstructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to aprocessor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, orother programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, suchthat the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computeror other programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the schematic flowchartdiagrams and/or schematic block diagrams block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computerreadable storage medium that can direct a computer, other programmabledata processing apparatus, or other devices to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer readablestorage medium produce an article of manufacture including instructionswhich implement the function/act specified in the schematic flowchartdiagrams and/or schematic block diagrams block or blocks. The computerprogram instructions may also be loaded onto a computer, otherprogrammable data processing apparatus, or other devices to cause aseries of operational steps to be performed on the computer, otherprogrammable apparatus or other devices to produce a computerimplemented process such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer or other programmable apparatus provide processes forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

The schematic flowchart diagrams and/or schematic block diagrams in theFigures illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation ofpossible implementations of apparatuses, systems, methods and computerprogram products according to various embodiments of the presentdisclosure. In this regard, each block in the schematic flowchartdiagrams and/or schematic block diagrams may represent a module,segment, or portion of code, which comprises one or more executableinstructions for implementing the specified logical function(s).

It should also be noted that, in some alternative implementations, thefunctions noted in the block may occur out of the order noted in thefigures. For example, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, beexecuted substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes beexecuted in the reverse order, depending upon the functionalityinvolved. Other steps and methods may be conceived that are equivalentin function, logic, or effect to one or more blocks, or portionsthereof, of the illustrated figures.

Although various arrow types and line types may be employed in theflowchart and/or block diagrams, they are understood not to limit thescope of the corresponding embodiments. Indeed, some arrows or otherconnectors may be used to indicate only the logical flow of the depictedembodiment. For instance, an arrow may indicate a waiting or monitoringperiod of unspecified duration between enumerated steps of the depictedembodiment. It will also be noted that each block of the block diagramsand/or flowchart diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the blockdiagrams and/or flowchart diagrams, can be implemented by specialpurpose hardware-based systems that perform the specified functions oracts, or combinations of special purpose hardware and computerinstructions.

The description of elements in each figure may refer to elements ofproceeding figures. Like numbers refer to like elements in all figures,including alternate embodiments of like elements.

According to various embodiments, a non-volatile memory controllermanages one or more non-volatile memory devices. The non-volatile memorydevice(s) may comprise memory or storage devices, such as solid-statestorage device(s), that are arranged and/or partitioned into a pluralityof addressable media storage locations. As used herein, a media storagelocation refers to any physical unit of memory (e.g., any quantity ofphysical storage media on a non-volatile memory device). Memory unitsmay include, but are not limited to: pages, memory divisions, eraseblocks, sectors, blocks, collections or sets of physical storagelocations (e.g., logical pages, logical erase blocks, described below),or the like.

The non-volatile memory controller may comprise a storage managementlayer (SML), which may present a logical address space to one or morestorage clients. One example of an SML is the Virtual Storage Layer® ofFusion-io, Inc. of Salt Lake City, Utah. Alternatively, eachnon-volatile memory device may comprise a non-volatile memory mediacontroller, which may present a logical address space to the storageclients. As used herein, a logical address space refers to a logicalrepresentation of memory resources. The logical address space maycomprise a plurality (e.g., range) of logical addresses. As used herein,a logical address refers to any identifier for referencing a memoryresource (e.g., data), including, but not limited to: a logical blockaddress (LBA), cylinder/head/sector (CHS) address, a file name, anobject identifier, an inode, a Universally Unique Identifier (UUID), aGlobally Unique Identifier (GUID), a hash code, a signature, an indexentry, a range, an extent, or the like.

The SML may maintain metadata, such as a forward index, to map logicaladdresses of the logical address space to media storage locations on thenon-volatile memory device(s). The SML may provide for arbitrary,any-to-any mappings from logical addresses to physical storageresources. As used herein, an “any-to any” mapping may map any logicaladdress to any physical storage resource. Accordingly, there may be nopre-defined and/or pre-set mappings between logical addresses andparticular, media storage locations and/or media addresses. As usedherein, a media address refers to an address of a memory resource thatuniquely identifies one memory resource from another to a controllerthat manages a plurality of memory resources. By way of example, a mediaaddress includes, but is not limited to: the address of a media storagelocation, a physical memory unit, a collection of physical memory units(e.g., a logical memory unit), a portion of a memory unit (e.g., alogical memory unit address and offset, range, and/or extent), or thelike. Accordingly, the SML may map logical addresses to physical dataresources of any size and/or granularity, which may or may notcorrespond to the underlying data partitioning scheme of thenon-volatile memory device(s). For example, in some embodiments, thenon-volatile memory controller is configured to store data withinlogical memory units that are formed by logically combining a pluralityof physical memory units, which may allow the non-volatile memorycontroller to support many different virtual memory unit sizes and/orgranularities.

As used herein, a logical memory element refers to a set of two or morenon-volatile memory elements that are or are capable of being managed inparallel (e.g., via an I/O and/or control bus). A logical memory elementmay comprise a plurality of logical memory units, such as logical pages,logical memory divisions (e.g., logical erase blocks), and so on. Asused herein, a logical memory unit refers to a logical constructcombining two or more physical memory units, each physical memory uniton a respective non-volatile memory element in the respective logicalmemory element (each non-volatile memory element being accessible inparallel). As used herein, a logical memory division refers to a set oftwo or more physical memory divisions, each physical memory division ona respective non-volatile memory element in the respective logicalmemory element.

The logical address space presented by the storage management layer mayhave a logical capacity, which may correspond to the number of availablelogical addresses in the logical address space and the size (orgranularity) of the data referenced by the logical addresses. Forexample, the logical capacity of a logical address space comprising 2̂32unique logical addresses, each referencing 2048 bytes (2KiB) of data maybe 2̂43 bytes. (As used herein, a kibibyte (KiB) refers to 1024 bytes).In some embodiments, the logical address space may be thinlyprovisioned. As used herein, a “thinly provisioned” logical addressspace refers to a logical address space having a logical capacity thatexceeds the physical capacity of the underlying non-volatile memorydevice(s). For example, the storage management layer may present a64-bit logical address space to the storage clients (e.g., a logicaladdress space referenced by 64-bit logical addresses), which exceeds thephysical capacity of the underlying non-volatile memory devices. Thelarge logical address space may allow storage clients to allocate and/orreference contiguous ranges of logical addresses, while reducing thechance of naming conflicts. The storage management layer may leveragethe any-to-any mappings between logical addresses and physical storageresources to manage the logical address space independently of theunderlying physical storage devices. For example, the storage managementlayer may add and/or remove physical storage resources seamlessly, asneeded, and without changing the logical addresses used by the storageclients.

The non-volatile memory controller may be configured to store data in acontextual format. As used herein, a contextual format refers to aself-describing data format in which persistent contextual metadata isstored with the data on the physical storage media. The persistentcontextual metadata provides context for the data it is stored with. Incertain embodiments, the persistent contextual metadata uniquelyidentifies the data that the persistent contextual metadata is storedwith. For example, the persistent contextual metadata may uniquelyidentify a sector of data owned by a storage client from other sectorsof data owned by the storage client. In a further embodiment, thepersistent contextual metadata identifies an operation that is performedon the data. In a further embodiment, the persistent contextual metadataidentifies a sequence of operations performed on the data. In a furtherembodiment, the persistent contextual metadata identifies securitycontrols, a data type, or other attributes of the data. In a certainembodiment, the persistent contextual metadata identifies at least oneof a plurality of aspects, including data type, a unique dataidentifier, an operation, and a sequence of operations performed on thedata. The persistent contextual metadata may include, but is not limitedto: a logical address of the data, an identifier of the data (e.g., afile name, object id, label, unique identifier, or the like),reference(s) to other data (e.g., an indicator that the data isassociated with other data), a relative position or offset of the datawith respect to other data (e.g., file offset, etc.), data size and/orrange, and the like. The contextual data format may comprise a packetformat comprising a data segment and one or more headers. Alternatively,a contextual data format may associate data with context information inother ways (e.g., in a dedicated index on the non-volatile memory media,a memory division index, or the like).

In some embodiments, the contextual data format may allow data contextto be determined (and/or reconstructed) based upon the contents of thenon-volatile memory media, and independently of other metadata, such asthe arbitrary, any-to-any mappings discussed above. Since the medialocation of data is independent of the logical address of the data, itmay be inefficient (or impossible) to determine the context of databased solely upon the media location or media address of the data.Storing data in a contextual format on the non-volatile memory media mayallow data context to be determined without reference to other metadata.For example, the contextual data format may allow the metadata to bereconstructed based only upon the contents of the non-volatile memorymedia (e.g., reconstruct the any-to-any mappings between logicaladdresses and media locations).

In some embodiments, the non-volatile memory controller may beconfigured to store data on one or more asymmetric, write-once media,such as solid-state storage media. As used herein, a “write once”storage medium refers to a storage medium that is reinitialized (e.g.,erased) each time new data is written or programmed thereon. As usedherein, an “asymmetric” storage medium refers to a storage medium havingdifferent latencies for different storage operations. Many types ofsolid-state storage media are asymmetric; for example, a read operationmay be much faster than a write/program operation, and a write/programoperation may be much faster than an erase operation (e.g., reading themedia may be hundreds of times faster than erasing, and tens of timesfaster than programming the media). The memory media may be partitionedinto memory divisions that can be erased as a group (e.g., erase blocks)in order to, inter alia, account for the asymmetric properties of themedia. As such, modifying a single data segment in-place may requireerasing the entire erase block comprising the data, and rewriting themodified data to the erase block, along with the original, unchangeddata. This may result in inefficient “write amplification,” which mayexcessively wear the media. Therefore, in some embodiments, thenon-volatile memory controller may be configured to write dataout-of-place. As used herein, writing data “out-of-place” refers towriting data to different media storage location(s) rather thanoverwriting the data “in-place” (e.g., overwriting the original physicallocation of the data). Modifying data out-of-place may avoid writeamplification, since existing, valid data on the erase block with thedata to be modified need not be erased and recopied. Moreover, writingdata out-of-place may remove erasure from the latency path of manystorage operations (the erasure latency is no longer part of thecritical path of a write operation).

The non-volatile memory controller may comprise one or more processesthat operate outside of the regular path for servicing of storageoperations (the “path” for performing a storage operation and/orservicing a storage request). As used herein, the “path for servicing astorage request” or “path for servicing a storage operation” (alsoreferred to as the “critical path”) refers to a series of processingoperations needed to service the storage operation or request, such as aread, write, modify, or the like. The path for servicing a storagerequest may comprise receiving the request from a storage client,identifying the logical addresses of the request, performing one or morestorage operations on non-volatile memory media, and returning a result,such as acknowledgement or data. Processes that occur outside of thepath for servicing storage requests may include, but are not limited to:a groomer, de-duplication, and so on. These processes may be implementedautonomously and in the background, so that they do not interfere withor impact the performance of other storage operations and/or requests.Accordingly, these processes may operate independent of servicingstorage requests.

In some embodiments, the non-volatile memory controller comprises agroomer, which is configured to reclaim memory divisions (e.g., eraseblocks) for reuse. The write out-of-place paradigm implemented by thenon-volatile memory controller may result in obsolete or invalid dataremaining on the non-volatile memory media. For example, overwritingdata X with data Y may result in storing Y on a new memory division(rather than overwriting X in place), and updating the any-to-anymappings of the metadata to identify Y as the valid, up-to-date versionof the data. The obsolete version of the data X may be marked asinvalid, but may not be immediately removed (e.g., erased), since, asdiscussed above, erasing X may involve erasing an entire memorydivision, which is a time-consuming operation and may result in writeamplification. Similarly, data that is no longer is use (e.g., deletedor trimmed data) may not be immediately removed. The non-volatile memorymedia may accumulate a significant amount of invalid data. A groomerprocess may operate outside of the critical path for servicing storageoperations. The groomer process may reclaim memory divisions so thatthey can be reused for other storage operations. As used herein,reclaiming a memory division refers to erasing the memory division sothat new data may be stored/programmed thereon. Reclaiming a memorydivision may comprise relocating valid data on the memory division to anew location. The groomer may identify memory divisions for reclamationbased upon one or more factors, which may include, but are not limitedto: the amount of invalid data in the memory division, the amount ofvalid data in the memory division, wear on the memory division (e.g.,number of erase cycles), time since the memory division was programmedor refreshed, and so on.

The non-volatile memory controller may be further configured to storedata in a log format. As described above, a log format refers to a dataformat that defines an ordered sequence of storage operations performedon a non-volatile memory media. In some embodiments, the log formatcomprises storing data in a pre-determined sequence of media addressesof the non-volatile memory media (e.g., within sequential pages and/orerase blocks of the media). The log format may further compriseassociating data (e.g., each packet or data segment) with respectivesequence indicators. The sequence indicators may be applied to dataindividually (e.g., applied to each data packet) and/or to datagroupings (e.g., packets stored sequentially on a memory division, suchas an erase block). In some embodiments, sequence indicators may beapplied to memory divisions when the memory divisions are reclaimed(e.g., erased), as described above, and/or when the memory divisions arefirst used to store data.

In some embodiments the log format may comprise storing data in an“append only” paradigm. The non-volatile memory controller may maintaina current append point at a media address of the non-volatile memorydevice. The append point may be a current memory division and/or offsetwithin a memory division. Data may then be sequentially appended fromthe append point. The sequential ordering of the data, therefore, may bedetermined based upon the sequence indicator of the memory division ofthe data in combination with the sequence of the data within the memorydivision. Upon reaching the end of a memory division, the non-volatilememory controller may identify the “next” available memory division (thenext memory division that is initialized and ready to store data). Thegroomer may reclaim memory divisions comprising invalid, stale, and/ordeleted data, to ensure that data may continue to be appended to themedia log.

The log format described herein may allow valid data to be distinguishedfrom invalid data based upon the contents of the non-volatile memorymedia, and independently of other metadata. As discussed above, invaliddata may not be removed from the non-volatile memory media until thememory division comprising the data is reclaimed. Therefore, multiple“versions” of data having the same context may exist on the non-volatilememory media (e.g., multiple versions of data having the same logicaladdresses). The sequence indicators associated with the data may be usedto distinguish invalid versions of data from the current, up-to-dateversion of the data; the data that is the most recent in the log is thecurrent version, and previous versions may be identified as invalid.

In the following detailed description, reference is made to theaccompanying drawings, which form a part thereof. The foregoing summaryis illustrative only and is not intended to be in any way limiting. Inaddition to the illustrative aspects, embodiments, and featuresdescribed above, further aspects, embodiments, and features will becomeapparent by reference to the drawings and the following detaileddescription.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of one embodiment of a system 100 comprising areduced level cell module 150. In general, the reduced level cell module150 is configured to provide a reduced level cell (RLC) mode fornon-volatile memory media 122 of a non-volatile memory device 120. Inthe reduced level cell mode, an erase block or other region ofnon-volatile memory cells of the non-volatile memory media 122 maycontinue to operate after reaching a certain age, a certain error rate,or the like with a reduced capacity, instead of being retired from usecompletely. In certain embodiments, the reduced level cell module 150may provide a reduced level cell mode virtually, from a non-volatilememory controller 124, 126 such that the non-volatile memory media 122continues to operate with all of its original storage levels (e.g.,multi-level cell (MLC) mode, triple level cell (TLC) mode, or the like)at the device level, but with certain abodes or program statesrestricted or masked at the controller level. In this manner, thereduced level cell module 150 may provide a reduced level cell mode in avendor or manufacturer agnostic manner that is compatible withnon-volatile memory media 122 from multiple different vendors ormanufacturers, even if they have different arrangements of abodes orprogram states or other differences in architecture.

The reduced level cell module 150 may be part of and/or in communicationwith a storage management layer (SML) 130. The SML 130 may operate on anon-volatile memory system 102 of a computing device 110, which maycomprise a processor 111, volatile memory 112, and a communicationinterface 113. The processor 111 may comprise one or more centralprocessing units, one or more general-purpose processors, one or moreapplication-specific processors, one or more virtual processors (e.g.,the computing device 110 may be a virtual machine operating within ahost), one or more processor cores, or the like. The communicationinterface 113 may comprise one or more network interfaces configured tocommunicatively couple the computing device 110 (and/or non-volatilememory controller 124) to a communication network, such as an InternetProtocol network, a Storage Area Network, or the like.

The computing device 110 may further comprise a non-transitory, computerreadable storage media 114. The computer readable storage media 114 maycomprise executable instructions configured to cause the computingdevice 110 (e.g., processor 111) to perform steps of one or more of themethods disclosed herein. Alternatively, or in addition, the storagemanagement layer 130 and/or one or more modules thereof may be embodiedas one or more computer readable instructions stored on thenon-transitory storage media 114.

The storage management layer 130 may be configured to provide storageservices to one or more storage clients 116. The storage clients 116 mayinclude local storage clients 116 operating on the computing device 110and/or remote, storage clients 116 accessible via the network (andnetwork interface 113). The storage clients 116 may include, but are notlimited to: operating systems, file systems, database applications,server applications, kernel-level processes, user-level processes,applications, and the like.

The storage management layer 130 comprises and/or is communicativelycoupled to one or more non-volatile memory devices 120. The non-volatilememory devices 120 may include different types of non-volatile memorydevices including, but not limited to: solid-state storage devices, harddrives, SAN storage resources, or the like. The non-volatile memorydevices 120 may comprise one or more respective non-volatile memorymedia controllers 126 and non-volatile memory media 122. The SML 130 mayprovide access to the one or more non-volatile memory devices 120 via atraditional block I/O interface 131. Additionally, the SML 130 mayprovide access to enhanced functionality (large, virtual address space)through the SML interface 132. The metadata 135 may be used to manageand/or track storage operations performed through any of the Block I/Ointerface 131, SML interface 132, cache interface 133, or other, relatedinterfaces.

The cache interface 133 may expose cache-specific features accessiblevia the storage management layer 130. Also, in some embodiments, the SMLinterface 132 presented to the storage clients 116 provides access todata transformations implemented by the one or more non-volatile memorydevices 120 and/or the one or more non-volatile memory media controllers126.

The SML 130 may provide storage services through one or more interfaces,which may include, but are not limited to: a block I/O interface, anextended storage management layer interface, a cache interface, and thelike. The SML 130 may present a logical address space 134 to the storageclients 116 through one or more interfaces. As discussed above, thelogical address space 134 may comprise a plurality of logical addresses,each corresponding to respective media locations on the one or morenon-volatile memory devices 120. The SML 130 may maintain metadata 135comprising any-to-any mappings between logical addresses and medialocations, as described above.

The SML 130 may further comprise a log storage module 137 that isconfigured to store data in a contextual, log format. The contextual,log data format may comprise associating data with persistent contextualmetadata, such as the logical address of the data, or the like. Thecontextual, log format may further comprise associating data withrespective sequence identifiers on the non-volatile memory media 122,which define an ordered sequence of storage operations performed on theone or more non-volatile memory devices 120, as described above.

The SML 130 may further comprise a non-volatile memory device interface139 configured to transfer data, commands, and/or queries to the one ormore non-volatile memory devices 120 over a bus 125, which may include,but is not limited to: a peripheral component interconnect express (PCIExpress or PCIe) bus, a serial Advanced Technology Attachment (ATA) bus,a parallel ATA bus, a small computer system interface (SCSI), FireWire,Fibre Channel, a Universal Serial Bus (USB), a PCIe Advanced Switching(PCIe-AS) bus, a network, Infiniband, SCSI RDMA, or the like. Thenon-volatile memory device interface 139 may communicate with the one ormore non-volatile memory devices 120 using input-output control (IO-CTL)command(s), IO-CTL command extension(s), remote direct memory access, orthe like. The communication interface 113 may comprise one or morenetwork interfaces configured to communicatively couple the computingdevice 110 (and/or non-volatile memory controller 124) to a network 115and/or to one or more remote, network-accessible storage clients 116.

The computing device 110 may comprise a non-volatile memory controller124 that is configured to provide storage services to the storageclients 116. The storage clients 116 may include local storage clients116 operating on the computing device 110 and/or remote, storage clients116 accessible via the network 115 (and network interface 113). Thenon-volatile memory controller 124 comprises one or more non-volatilememory devices 120. Although FIG. 1B depicts a single non-volatilememory device 120, the disclosure is not limited in this regard andcould be adapted to incorporate any number of non-volatile memorydevices 120.

The non-volatile memory device 120 may comprise non-volatile memorymedia 122, which may include but is not limited to: NAND flash memory,NOR flash memory, nano random access memory (nano RAM or NRAM),nanocrystal wire-based memory, silicon-oxide based sub-10 nanometerprocess memory, graphene memory, Silicon-Oxide-Nitride-Oxide-Silicon(SONOS), resistive RAM (RRAM), programmable metallization cell (PMC),conductive-bridging RAM (CBRAM), magneto-resistive RAM (MRAM), dynamicRAM (DRAM), phase change memory (PRAM or PCM), magnetic storage media(e.g., hard disk, tape), optical storage media, or the like. While thenon-volatile memory media 122 is referred to herein as “memory media,”in various embodiments, the non-volatile memory media 122 may moregenerally comprise a non-volatile recording media capable of recordingdata, which may be referred to as a non-volatile memory media, anon-volatile storage media, or the like. Further, the non-volatilememory device 120, in various embodiments, may comprise a non-volatilerecording device, a non-volatile memory device, a non-volatile storagedevice, or the like.

The non-volatile memory media 122 may comprise a plurality of cells forstoring data. As used herein, a cell refers to the smallest physicalunit of storage or memory of the non-volatile memory media 122. In someembodiments, each cell has a physical and/or electrical property whichmay be altered to encode or otherwise store data. While cells of thenon-volatile memory media 122 are generally referred to herein as“memory cells” or “storage cells,” the cells may more generally compriserecording cells capable of recording data. Further, while the reducedlevel cell module 150 is primarily described herein with regard to thenon-volatile memory media 122, in certain embodiments, the reduced levelcell module 150 may operate in a substantially similar manner to providea reduced level cell mode for a volatile memory media.

The non-volatile memory media 122 may comprise one or more non-volatilememory elements 123, which may include, but are not limited to: chips,packages, planes, die, and the like. A non-volatile memory mediacontroller 126 may be configured to manage storage operations on thenon-volatile memory media 122, and may comprise one or more processors,programmable processors (e.g., field-programmable gate arrays), or thelike. In some embodiments, the non-volatile memory media controller 126is configured to store data on (and read data from) the non-volatilememory media 122 in the contextual, log format described above, and totransfer data to/from the non-volatile memory device 120, and so on.

The non-volatile memory media controller 126 may be communicativelycoupled to the non-volatile memory media 122 by way of a bus 127. Thebus 127 may comprise an I/O bus for communicating data to/from thenon-volatile memory elements 123. The bus 127 may further comprise acontrol bus for communicating addressing and other command and controlinformation to the non-volatile memory elements 123. In someembodiments, the bus 127 may communicatively couple the non-volatilememory elements 123 to the non-volatile memory media controller 126 inparallel. This parallel access may allow the non-volatile memoryelements 123 to be managed as a group, forming a logical memory element129. As discussed above, the logical memory element may be partitionedinto respective logical memory units (e.g., logical pages) and/orlogical memory divisions (e.g., logical erase blocks). The logicalmemory units may be formed by logically combining physical memory unitsof each of the non-volatile memory elements. For example, if thenon-volatile memory media 122 comprises twenty-five (25) non-volatilememory elements, each logical memory unit may comprise twenty-five (25)pages (a page of each element of non-volatile memory media 122).

The non-volatile memory controller 124 may comprise a SML 130 and thenon-volatile memory media controller 126. The SML 130 may providestorage services to the storage clients 116 via one or more interfaces131, 132, and/or 133. In some embodiments, the SML 130 provides ablock-device I/O interface 131 through which storage clients 116 performblock-level I/O operations. Alternatively, or in addition, the SML 130may provide a storage management layer (SML) interface 132, which mayprovide other storage services to the storage clients 116. In someembodiments, the SML interface 132 may comprise extensions to the blockdevice interface 131 (e.g., storage clients 116 may access the SMLinterface 132 through extensions to the block device interface 131).Alternatively, or in addition, the SML interface 132 may be provided asa separate API, service, and/or library. The SML 130 may be furtherconfigured to provide a cache interface 133 for caching data using thenon-volatile memory system 102.

As described above, the SML 130 may present a logical address space 134to the storage clients 116 (through the interfaces 131, 132, and/or133). The SML 130 may maintain metadata 135 comprising any-to-anymappings between logical addresses in the logical address space 134 andmedia locations on the non-volatile memory device 120. The metadata 135may comprise a logical-to-physical mapping structure with entries thatmap logical addresses in the logical address space 134 and medialocations on the non-volatile memory device 120. The logical-to-physicalmapping structure of the metadata 135, in one embodiment, is sparselypopulated, with entries for logical addresses for which the non-volatilememory device 120 stores data and with no entries for logical addressesfor which the non-volatile memory device 120 does not currently storedata. The metadata 135, in certain embodiments, tracks data at a blocklevel, with the SML 130 managing data as blocks.

The non-volatile memory system 102 may further comprise a log storagemodule 137, which, as described above, may be configured to store dataon the non-volatile memory device 120 in a contextual, log format. Thecontextual, log data format may comprise associating data with a logicaladdress on the non-volatile memory media 122. The contextual, log formatmay further comprise associating data with respective sequenceidentifiers on the non-volatile memory media 122, which define anordered sequence of storage operations performed on the non-volatilememory media 122, as described above. The non-volatile memory controller124 may further comprise a non-volatile memory device interface 139 thatis configured to transfer data, commands, and/or queries to thenon-volatile memory media controller 126 over a bus 125, as describedabove.

The non-volatile memory system 102, in the depicted embodiment, includesa reduced level cell module 150. The reduced level cell module 150, inone embodiment, is configured to determine when an erase block or otherregion of the non-volatile memory media 122 is to operate in a reducedlevel cell mode, based on an error rate for the region, an age of theregion, or another endurance threshold being satisfied. To provide areduced level cell mode, in certain embodiments, the reduced level cellmodule 150 may program or write user data or other workload data to oneor more lower pages of memory cells of an erase block or other region(e.g., a lower page for MLC media, a lower page and a middle page forTLC media, or the like), substantially similar to a standard MLC or TLCmode. However, the reduced level cell module 150, instead of programminguser data or other workload data to the upper page of the memory cellsin the reduced level cell mode, may restrict or mask certain abodes orprogram states, by adjusting boundaries or thresholds for the abodes(e.g., program verify thresholds, read voltage thresholds, or the like),by programming the upper page with a predefined endurance pattern toseparate available abodes, mask unavailable abodes, or the like.

The reduced level cell module 150 may allow an erase block or otherregion of non-volatile memory media 122 to continue to operate andreliably store data after reaching a certain age, a certain error rate,or the like, operating with a reduced capacity instead of being retiredfrom use completely. In certain embodiments, the reduced level cellmodule 150 may provide a reduced level cell mode virtually, from anon-volatile memory controller 124, 126 such that the non-volatilememory media 122 continues to operate at the device level with all ofits original storage levels (e.g., MLC mode, TLC mode, or the like), butwith certain abodes or program states restricted or masked at thecontroller level. In this manner, the reduced level cell module 150 mayprovide a reduced level cell mode in a vendor or manufacturer agnosticmanner that is compatible with different architectures of non-volatilememory media 122 from multiple different vendors or manufacturers, evenif they have different arrangements of abodes or program states.

In one embodiment, the reduced level cell module 150 may compriseexecutable software code, such as a device driver for the non-volatilememory device 120, the SML 130, or the like, stored on the computerreadable storage media 114 for execution on the processor 111. Inanother embodiment the reduced level cell module 150 may comprise logichardware of the one or more non-volatile memory devices 120, such as anon-volatile memory media controller 126, a non-volatile memorycontroller 124, a device controller, a field-programmable gate array(FPGA) or other programmable logic, firmware for an FPGA or otherprogrammable logic, microcode for execution on a microcontroller, anapplication-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or the like. In afurther embodiment, the reduced level cell module 150 may include acombination of both executable software code and logic hardware.

In one embodiment, the reduced level cell module 150 is configured toreceive storage requests from the SML 130 via a bus 125 or the like. Thereduced level cell module 150 may be further configured to transfer datato/from the SML 130 and/or storage clients 116 via the bus 125.Accordingly, the reduced level cell module 150, in some embodiments, maycomprise and/or be in communication with one or more direct memoryaccess (DMA) modules, remote DMA modules, bus controllers, bridges,buffers, and so on to facilitate the transfer of storage requests andassociated data. In another embodiment, the reduced level cell module150 may receive storage requests as an API call from a storage client116, as an IO-CTL command, or the like. The reduced level cell module150 is described in greater detail below with regard to FIGS. 2A and 2B.

FIG. 2A depicts one embodiment of a reduced level cell module 150. Thereduced level cell module 150 may be substantially similar to thereduced level cell module 150 described above with regard to FIG. 1. Inthe depicted embodiment, the reduced level cell module 150 includes atrigger module 202, a program module 204, and an endurance module 206.

Non-volatile memory media 122, such as MLC or TLC NAND flash media, mayhave an upper error rate limit or other endurance threshold, beyondwhich memory cells of the media 122 may not consistently maintaindistinct data values, voltage levels, or the like (e.g., eight distinctvoltage levels for TLC memory cells, four distinct voltage levels forMLC memory cells). Rather than completely retiring the memory cells oncethe cells have reached such a limit (e.g., worn out), in certainembodiments, the reduced level cell module 150 uses the memory cells ina reduced level cell mode to allow continued use of the memory cellswith a reduction in capacity. For example, the reduced level cell module150 may operate TLC memory cells in a virtual MLC reduced level cellmode with four distinct voltage levels (e.g., abodes, program states)instead of eight, at least virtually, reducing a capacity of each memorycell from three bits to two bits instead of retiring the memory cellsand losing all of the storage capacity completely, with a one-thirdreduction in storage capacity instead of a complete reduction.

As used herein, a reduced level cell mode for one or more memory cellscomprises use of the one or more memory cells to store or encode lessinformation, less usable or used information, less workload data, lessuser data, less valid data, or the like (e.g., fewer bits) than the oneor more memory cells are capable. For example, a reduced level cell modemay comprise operating TLC memory cells in a MLC reduced level cellmode, operating MLC memory cells in a SLC reduced level cell mode, orthe like. As described in greater detail below, a reduced level cellmode may be virtual and implemented in a layer above the non-volatilememory media 122, above the non-volatile memory device 120, or the like.

For example, the reduced level cell mode may be virtual and may betransparent to the non-volatile memory media 122 and/or the non-volatilememory media controller 126, which may continue to operate and storedata in a native TLC mode, MLC mode, or the like, with the reduced levelcell module 150 restricting or masking certain abodes, program states,and/or pages of the memory cells to provide the reduced level cell mode.In such embodiments, the reduced level cell module 150 may provide areduced level cell mode for non-volatile memory media 122 of differentarchitectures, regardless of the underlying characteristics of the media122, such as an arrangement of abodes or program states, a manufactureror vendor, or the like, because the reduced level cell module 150 mayprovide the reduced level mode based on a common, predefined dataencoding used by multiple types, makes, and/or models of non-volatilememory media 122, such as a Gray code encoding described below or thelike. The reduced level cell module 150, in one embodiment, may increasean endurance or usable lifetime of the non-volatile memory media 122beyond a normal wear expectancy using a reduced level cell mode.

As described above, a “cell” refers to the smallest physical unit ofstorage or memory of non-volatile memory media 122. In some embodiments,each cell has a physical and/or electrical property which may be alteredto encode or otherwise store data. For example, in Flash memory, a cellmay include a floating gate transistor, and the physical property usedto encode data may be the charge stored on the floating gate, thethreshold voltage Vt that is sufficient to make the transistor conductwhen applied to the control gate, or the like. As another example, inphase change memory, a cell may be a region of chalcogenide glass, andthe physical property used to encode data may be the degree ofcrystallization of the region, the electrical resistance of the cell, orthe like. As described above with regard to the non-volatile memorymedia 122, many types of cells may encode data of a non-volatile memorydevice 120 for use with the reduced level cell module 150.

In one embodiment, the range of possible values for the data-encodingphysical property of a cell is divided into discrete program states orabodes, so that each program state or abode encodes one or more possibledata values. In some embodiments, the program states or abodes areconfigured to encode values for a plurality of bits. For example, if acell stores two bits using four states (e.g., in MLC mode), each statemay encode a different value for the two bits of the cell, such as “11,”“01,” “00,” or “10.” If a cell stores three bits using eight states(e.g., in TLC mode), each state may encode a different value for thethree bits of the cell, such as “111,” “011,” “001,” “101,” “100,”“000,” “010,” or “110.” In a further embodiment, the states or abodes ofa cell may be separated by guard bands or separation distances. As usedherein, a program “state” or “abode” refers to a sub-range of possiblevalues for the data-encoding physical property of a cell, so that eachstate corresponds to a single set of one or more data values. An abode,program state, programming state, or storage state, may comprise a rangeof read levels, such as a read voltage level for flash media, a readresistivity level for PCM media, or the like, associated with aparticular set of one or more data values. Read thresholds, such as aread voltage threshold, a read resistivity threshold, or the like, mayseparate abodes or program states. States/abodes and guard bands aredescribed in further detail below with regard to FIG. 11A.

In some embodiments, an encoding maps states or abodes of a cell to datavalues. In general, an encoding is a mapping that allows each state orabode of a cell to represent a corresponding data value or set of datavalues. For example, in a cell with two states (e.g., SLC), the encodingmay map the lower state to a binary “1” and the upper state to a binary“0,” so that the cell stores one bit of information. As another example,in a cell with four states (e.g., MLC), a Gray code encoding or the likemay map the four states L0, L1, L2, and L3 to the data values “11,”“01,” “00,” and “10,” respectively, so that the cell stores two bits ofinformation. Similarly, in a cell with eight states (e.g., TLC), a Graycode encoding or the like may map the eight states L0, L1, L2, L3, L4,L5, L6, and L7 to the data values “111,” “011,” “001,” “101,” “100,”“000,” “010,” and “110” so that the cell stores, includes, and/orencodes three bits of information. The non-volatile memory media 122 maystore data using other encodings. Encodings are described in furtherdetail below with regard to FIG. 11B.

As described below, a multi-level or MLC memory cell stores at least twobits, a most significant bit (MSB) and a least significant bit (LSB).One type of MLC memory media is triple level cell (TLC) memory mediathat stores or encodes three bits, a MSB, a central significant bit(CSB), and a LSB. Other embodiments of MLC memory media may store orencode more than three bits per cell, such as a quad level cell withsixteen abodes or program states per cell that encode four bits, or thelike. In certain embodiments, a MSB, CSB, and/or LSB, though part of thesame physical memory cell, may be assigned to different pages of thenon-volatile memory media 122 (e.g., an upper, middle, and/or lowerpage).

In certain embodiments, a plurality of the multi-level storage cells areorganized on the non-volatile memory media 122 (e.g., NAND flash memorymedia) as a physical page. In certain non-volatile memory media 122, aphysical page is the smallest unit that can be written to thenon-volatile memory media 122. In such embodiments, a memory cell may beassociated with a page tuple comprising a page for each bit of the cell(e.g., two pages or a page pair for MLC, three pages for TLC). A pagetuple is a set of pages (e.g., upper, middle, and/or lower) that areassociated with a single, common set of physical memory cells. Forexample, a memory cell may be associated with a page pair that includesan upper page and a lower page, a page tuple that includes an upperpage, a middle page, and a lower page, or the like. An upper page may beassociated with the MSBs, a middle page may be associated with the CSBs,and the lower page may be associated with the LSBs, or the reverse.Physical pages, in certain embodiments, may be grouped or organized intological pages, with each logical page comprising multiple physicalpages.

Thus, the MSB, CSB, and LSB of a memory cell may have differentaddresses in the non-volatile memory device 120. In certain embodiments,the upper page includes the MSBs of a plurality of memory cells, themiddle page includes the CSBs of the plurality of memory cells, and thelower page includes the LSBs of the same, common set or plurality ofmemory cells. Writes directed to the upper page may therefore causechanges only in the MSBs of the associated memory cells, writes directedto the middle page may cause changes only in the CSBs of the associatedmemory cells, and writes directed to the lower page may cause changesonly in the LSBs of the associated memory cells, based on a dataencoding for abodes or program states of the memory cells.

In one embodiment, the trigger module 202 is configured to determine ordesignate when a region of the non-volatile memory media 122 (e.g., aset of non-volatile memory cells) is to operate in or be put in areduced level cell mode. A region or set of memory cells for which thetrigger module 202 may initiate or trigger a reduced level cell mode, invarious embodiments, may include a physical or logical erase block, aset of pages or word lines associated with the same memory cells (e.g.,a page tuple; a lower and upper page for MLC cells; lower, middle, andupper pages for TLC cells), a die, a die plane, a chip, a package, oranother region or set of memory cells.

The trigger module 202, in certain embodiments, is configured to monitoror check one or more endurance characteristics for a region or set ofstorage cells and to determine whether or not to trigger a reduced levelcell mode for the region or set of storage cells based on the one ormore endurance characteristics. As used herein, an endurancecharacteristic may include and/or relate to a make, a model, amanufacturer, a product version, or the like for the non-volatile memorydevice 120 and/or for the non-volatile memory media 122; an attribute orstatistic for a set of memory cells; an environmental condition or a usecase of the non-volatile memory device 120 and/or of the non-volatilememory media 122; and/or another statistic, heuristic, or otherdescriptor for an attribute or state of memory cells of the non-volatilememory media 122.

An endurance characteristic for a set of memory cells may affect orinform the determination of the trigger module 202 of whether toinitiate or trigger a reduced level cell mode for a set of memory cells.In one embodiment, an endurance characteristic may include an error rateor other error statistic for a set of memory cells, such as anuncorrectable bit error rate (UBER), a raw bit error rate (RBER), or thelike. In another embodiment, an endurance characteristic may include anage for a set of memory cells, such as a program/erase cycle count, anamount of time since being initialized or first powered on, a totalamount of time being powered on, or the like for the non-volatile memorydevice 120 or for a specific set of memory cells. In a furtherembodiment, an endurance characteristic may include a read count for aset of memory cells.

An endurance characteristic, in one embodiment, may include a retentiontime since a previous write for a set of memory cells. In an additionalembodiment, an endurance characteristic may include a temperature for aset of memory cells. An endurance characteristic, in certainembodiments, may include a use case for a set of memory cells. In oneembodiment, an endurance characteristic may include a storage requestlatency for the non-volatile memory device 120 (such as an average,maximum, or other storage request execution latency). Other measured,monitored, tracked, and/or discovered statistics, counts, states,parameters, rates, or the like may also be used as endurancecharacteristics. The trigger module 202, in various embodiments, mayreceive input regarding one or more endurance characteristics, directlyor indirectly, from one or more sensors, from other modules or elementssuch as an ECC decoder, a non-volatile memory controller 124, 126, theSML 130, or the like.

In one embodiment, the trigger module 202 monitors one or more endurancecharacteristics and initiates or triggers a reduced level cell mode fora region or set of non-volatile memory cells in response to an endurancecharacteristic satisfying an endurance threshold (e.g., being less thanthe endurance threshold, being greater than the endurance threshold,approaching the endurance threshold, or having another predefinedrelationship relative to the endurance threshold) or otherwisedetermining that an endurance threshold has been met. For example, thetrigger module 202 may monitor an error rate for an erase block or otherset of memory cells and may initiate or trigger a reduced level cellmode for the erase block in response to the error rate satisfying anerror threshold, or the like. An endurance threshold such as an errorthreshold may be predefined, hard-coded, or the like (e.g., determinedby a manufacturer, vendor, design engineer, or the like), the triggermodule 202 may dynamically determine an endurance threshold based on oneor more endurance characteristics (e.g., the trigger module 202 mayincrease or lower an endurance threshold over time with age of thenon-volatile memory device 120), or the like.

In certain embodiments, the trigger module 202 may evaluate one or moreendurance characteristics for a set of memory cells relative to anendurance threshold in response to a predefined event for the memorycells. For example, the trigger module 202 may evaluate an endurancecharacteristic and determine whether a set of memory cells is to operatein a reduced level cell mode in response to a read request or operationfor the cells, a write request or operation for the cells, the cells(e.g., an erase block) being selected for a storage capacity recoveryoperation such as grooming or garbage collection, or another predefinedevent.

The trigger module 202, in one embodiment, may trigger or initiate areduced level cell mode for an erase block or other region or set ofmemory cells (e.g., designate the memory cells for RLC mode) incooperation with the endurance module 206 described below. For example,the trigger module 202 may communicate an identifier for a designatedset of memory cells (e.g., a logical or physical erase block ID oraddress) to the endurance module 206, may send a message or command tothe endurance module 206, may update a shared reduced level celltracking data structure, or the like so that the endurance module 206and/or the program module 204 may use the memory cells in a reducedlevel cell mode.

The trigger module 202, over time, may trigger or initiate multiplelevels or stages of reduced level cell modes for a set of memory cells.For example, for a set of TLC memory cells, the trigger module 202 mayfirst initiate a MLC reduced level cell mode where the cells store twobits instead of three in response to an error characteristic satisfyinga first threshold and may later, in response to an endurancecharacteristic satisfying a second threshold, initiate a SLC reducedlevel cell mode where the cell store a single bit instead of three.

In certain embodiments, the trigger module 202 may continue to monitorone or more endurance characteristics for a region or set of memorycells after the memory cells are in a reduced level cell mode, and maytrigger or initiate retirement of the memory cells in response to anendurance characteristic satisfying a retirement threshold, as describedbelow with regard to the retirement module 210. For example, the triggermodule 202 may trigger or cause the retirement module 210 to retire anerase block or other region or set of memory cells from use for storingdata in response to an error rate for the memory cells satisfying aretirement error rate threshold while in a reduced level cell mode, orthe like.

In one embodiment, the program module 204 is configured to write data tomemory cells of the non-volatile memory media 122 (e.g., to cause thenon-volatile memory device 120 to program cells, to instruct thenon-volatile storage device 120 to program cells, or the like). Theprogram module 204 may write data or otherwise cause data to beprogrammed using the SML interface 132, the non-volatile memory deviceinterface 139, the bus 125, the bus 127, or the like depending on thelocation and/or implementation of the reduced level cell module 150. Asused herein, writing data to memory cells of the non-volatile memorymedia 122 includes instructing or otherwise causing the non-volatilememory device 120 to program the memory cells with the data.

Prior to writing to or programming a set of memory cells, the programmodule 204 may cooperate with the trigger module 202 and/or theendurance module 206 to determine whether or not the memory cells are ina reduced level cell mode. For example, the program module 204 may querythe trigger module 202 and/or the endurance module 206, check a sharedreduced level cell tracking data structure, or the like. If a region orset of memory cells (e.g., an erase block) is not in a reduced levelcell mode, the program module 204 may cause each page or bit associatedwith the memory cells to be programmed (e.g., a lower and upper page forMLC media 122; a lower, middle, and upper page for TLC media). If aregion or set of memory cells (e.g., an erase block) is operating in areduced level cell mode, the program module 204 may cause only a subsetof pages or bits associated with the memory cells to be programmed withvalid user data or other workload data.

As described below, in certain embodiments, the endurance module 206 maycause one or more remaining bits or pages (e.g., restricted, invalid,and/or unavailable bits or pages) of the memory cells to be programmedwith a predefined endurance pattern. In other embodiments, for certaintypes, makes, or models of non-volatile memory media 122, one or moreremaining bits or pages (e.g., restricted, invalid, and/or unavailablebits or pages) may remain un-programmed, with neither the program module204 nor the endurance module 206 programming or causing any data to beprogrammed to the remaining bits or pages. Depending on the reducedlevel cell mode for a set of memory cells and/or the type of memorycells (e.g., MLC, TLC, 3D, or the like), the program module 204 mayprogram various numbers of bits and/or pages for a set of memory cellsand leave various numbers of bits and/or pages un-programmed for theendurance module 206. For example, for a set of TLC memory cells in aMLC reduced level cell mode, the program module 204 may program two bitsor pages, leaving a single bit or page un-programmed. For a set of TLCmemory cells in a SLC reduced level cell mode, the program module 204may program a single bit or page and leave two bits or pagesun-programmed.

The program module 204 and/or the endurance module 206, in certainembodiments, write data and/or cause data to be programmed to a set ofmemory cells in accordance with a sequential page programming order forthe non-volatile memory media 122. For example, a sequential pageprogramming order may indicate that a first/lower page be programmedprior to a second/middle page being programmed, that a second/middlepage be programmed prior to a third/upper page being programmed, oranother predefined order of page programming for a set of cells. Thenon-volatile memory media 122 may require a multi-stage programmingprocess, such as a two stage programming process (e.g., lower page thenupper page or vice versa), a three stage programming process (e.g.,lower page, then middle page, then upper page), or the like. In afurther embodiment, certain non-volatile memory media 122 may requirethat each page or bit of a set of memory cells be known, be present, beready to be programmed, and/or be programmed at the same time (e.g.,that a middle and/or upper page of data be programmed or be ready forprogramming prior to a lower page being programmed). The program module204, in one embodiment, may cooperate with the endurance module 206and/or the buffer module 212 to satisfy a sequential page programmingorder, even in a reduced level cell mode.

In embodiments with a mandated page programming order, the programmodule 204 may write or program data to one or more lower pages in areduced level cell mode, leaving one or more upper pages eitherun-programmed or programmed by the endurance module 206. As used herein,lower pages may include a lower page (e.g., LSB) associated with a leastsignificant bit and one or more middle pages (e.g., central significantbits “CSBs”) between the lower page and an upper page (e.g., MSB) for aset of memory cells. For example, lower pages may refer to one or morepages closest to a lower page, upper pages may refer to one or morepages closest to an upper page, or the like. The position, magnitude,address, order, or the like of a lower page, middle page, and/or upperpage may be reversed, may be switched, or the like, depending on anencoding of the associated memory cells, on a convention used, onendianness, or the like, and are used herein merely for convenience andshould not be interpreted as limiting.

The program module 204, in one embodiment, writes user data or otherworkload data to one or more lower order pages of a set of memory cellsin either a reduced level cell mode or a default or native mode (e.g.,MLC, TLC). If the set of memory cells is not in a reduced level cellmode, the program module 204 may also write user data or other workloaddata to one or more upper order pages of the set of memory cells,utilizing all or substantially all of the capacity of the storage cellsfor user data or other workload data.

For example, for TLC memory cells, the program module 204 may instructthe non-volatile storage device 102 to program a first page (e.g., lowerpage) of an erase block or other set of memory cells with user/workloaddata and may instruct the non-volatile storage device 102 to program asecond page (e.g., middle/central page) of the erase block withuser/workload data. If the erase block or other set of memory cells isnot in a reduced level cell mode (e.g., an error rate or other endurancecharacteristic has failed to satisfy a threshold), the program module204 may also instruct the non-volatile storage device 102 to program athird page (e.g., upper page) of the erase block with user/workloaddata. However, if the erase block or other set of memory cells isoperating in a reduced level cell mode (e.g., an error rate or otherendurance characteristic has satisfied a threshold), the program module204 may cause the third page (e.g., upper page) to remain un-programmed,may allow the endurance module 206 to write/program a predefinedendurance pattern to the third page (e.g., upper page), or the like.

The program module 204, in one embodiment, writes or programs valid data(e.g., user data or other workload data) to a set of memory cells. Asdescribed below, the endurance module 206 may write or program apredefined endurance pattern that does not directly include user data orother workload data to a set of memory cells. In one embodiment,workload data or user data may include data associated with a writerequest from a storage client 116, over the block I/O interface 131, theSML interface 132, and/or the cache interface 133. Workload data or userdata, in certain embodiments, is associated with or indexed by logicaladdresses of the logical address space 134. Workload data or user data,in a further embodiment, does not include metadata or overhead data suchas the metadata 135, a predefined endurance data pattern, packetheaders, logical-to-physical mappings, error correction data, or thelike. In certain embodiments, workload data or user data may be storedwith, interleaved, or intermingled with metadata or other non-user,non-workload data.

The program module 204, in certain embodiment, writes validuser/workload data, which may include accompanying metadata,exclusively, referred to herein as data bits, while the endurance module206 may write a predefined endurance data pattern, which may be referredto herein as audit bits. In other embodiments, the program module 204may cooperate with the endurance module 206 to write or program bothdata bits and audit bits. The audit bits or predefined endurance datapattern, as described in greater detail below, may comprise exclusivelynon-user, non-workload data, such as the results of an XNOR logicalequality operation on the data bits, all binary ones, all binary zeroes,error correction or parity data for the data bits, or another predefinedor known data pattern.

In one embodiment, a standard or default operation of the non-volatilememory controller(s) 124, 126 for the non-volatile memory media 122 mayautomatically and/or dynamically set the audit bit (e.g., the upperpage, MSBs) to a known expected value. For example, an erase operationof an erase block for NAND flash comprising the memory cell may bydesign set the audit bit to a known expected value, such as a logicalbinary one value. In other embodiments, in order to provide a greaterseparation distance, a wider guard band, a greater read window budget,or the like than may be provided by skipping programming of an upperpage, the program module 204 and/or the endurance module 206 mayaffirmatively program the predefined endurance data pattern to the upperpage or MSBs, even if the pattern consists of exclusively binary ones,allowing the endurance module 206 to explicitly define or determinewhich abodes or storage states of the memory cells are available tostore or encode the data bits as described below.

In one embodiment, the program module 204 programs at least one auditbit with audit data and programs one or more data bits withuser/workload data or associated metadata, where the audit datacomprises a logic value and the data programmed into a data bitcomprises a logic value. In one embodiment, the program module 204and/or the endurance module 206 may program an audit bit in a memorycell separately from programming one or more data bits of the memorycell (e.g., a multi-step programming operation). In another embodiment,the program module 204 and/or the endurance module 206 may program anaudit bit and one or more data bits of a memory cell in a singleprogramming operation.

In some embodiments, each non-volatile memory cell has 2̂X possibleprogramming states or abodes, where X is equal to the number of bits pernon-volatile memory cell. For example, a MLC non-volatile memory cellmay store two bits of information and, accordingly, have four possibleprogramming states or abodes. As another example, a TLC non-volatilememory cell may store three bits of information and, accordingly, haveeight possible programming states or abodes.

A TLC or MLC non-volatile memory cell operating in a SLC reduced levelcell mode may store at least a most significant bit (MSB), at least aleast significant bit (LSB), or the like. As described above, eventhough the MSB and the LSB are part of the same physical triple levelmemory cell 402, the MSB and the LSB may be assigned to differentphysical and/or logical pages of the media. In certain embodiments, aplurality of the non-volatile memory cells is logically organized as oneor more pages on the non-volatile memory device 120. A page may be usedas the designation of the smallest unit that can be written to thenon-volatile memory device 120. Moreover, the non-volatile memory cellmay be associated with a page pair or tuple. A page pair is a pair ofpages (e.g., designated as upper and lower pages) that are associatedwith a single, common set of physical non-volatile memory cells. Pagepairs also may be referred to as page tuples. In one example, a two-bitnon-volatile memory cell is associated with a page pair, in which theMSB is associated with an upper page and the LSB is associated with alower page. The specific convention used to correlate the MSB/LSB withthe upper/lower pages in a particular embodiment does not necessarilylimit other conventions that may be used in other embodiments. Thus, theMSB and LSB in the same non-volatile memory cell may have differentlogical and/or physical addresses in the non-volatile memory device 120.

In one embodiment, writes directed to the upper page of the non-volatilememory cell only change the MSB. This can be achieved by changing theprogramming state of the non-volatile memory cell from the erase stateto the A state (See FIGS. 9C, 11A, 11B, and 12), in which case thevalues of the CSB and/or LSB are not changed.

Additionally, the write operations may be implemented in one or morestages, and each stage may include one or more incremental voltage levelchanges (e.g., incremental step pulse programming). For example,changing the state of a non-volatile memory cell from the erase state/L0to state A/L1 may occur in a single programming phase over multipleincremental voltage level changes, each voltage level change increasingthe voltage level of the non-volatile memory cell a fraction of thedifference between the erase state/L0 and the A/L1 state. In anotherexample, changing the state of a non-volatile memory cell from the erasestate/L0 to the LM state may be performed in a single programming phaseover a single voltage level change (with a relatively high programmingvoltage) or over multiple incremental voltage level changes (each usinga relatively low programming voltage).

As one example of a write operation, a storage client 116 (such as afile system software application, operating system application, databasemanagement systems software application, a client computer, a clientdevice, or the like) may implement functionality to store data on thenon-volatile memory device 120. When the storage client 116 sends thewrite request with the data to be written, in one embodiment, theprogram module 204 writes the data exclusively to available pages notmasked or restricted by the endurance module 206 (e.g., lower and/ormiddle pages of memory cells in a reduced level cell mode). Althoughthere may be various ways to write data exclusively to one page oranother, in one embodiment, a write operation may be performed byfollowing a page programming order defined by a manufacturer, asdescribed above, but skipping restricted or unavailable pages, writingaudit data (e.g., a predefined endurance data pattern) to restricted orunavailable pages, or the like. In this manner, for memory cells in areduced level cell mode, the data bits can be written exclusively to thepages that are available and unrestricted, while the pages correspondingto restricted, unavailable pages are not used or are programmed withaudit data.

Similar to write operations, read operations may be performed in one ormore stages, depending on the available functionality of thenon-volatile memory device 120 and/or associated memory media 122. Insome embodiments, one or more read operations may be performed at readvoltage thresholds between different abodes or program states todetermine in which abode or program state the read voltage falls. Forexample, for a MLC memory cell, a first read operation may be performedon a non-volatile memory cell to determine whether the read voltage isbetween the ERASE/L0 state and the A/L1 state, a second read operationmay be performed to distinguish between the A/L1 state and the B/L2state, and a third read operation may be performed to distinguishbetween the B/L2 state and the C/L3 state. Once a programming state isidentified, both the MSB and LSB may be known, because each programmingstate corresponds to two (or more) bits. However, when using a MLC orTLC non-volatile memory cell in a SLC reduced level cell mode, it may besufficient to derive only a single bit (e.g., the LSB, the CSB, theMSB), depending on which is used to designate the SLC value of thenon-volatile memory cell.

In certain embodiments, the data bits are read in response to requestsfor data that has been stored on the non-volatile memory device 120. Ifan associated region of the non-volatile memory device 120 (e.g., anerase block) is operating in a SLC reduced level mode, a MLC reducedlevel mode, or the like then the read request may be directed to a lowerpage, a middle page, or the like as an associated upper page may not beprogrammed or may be programmed with audit data or another predefinedendurance data pattern.

Although writing user data or other workload data exclusively toavailable, unrestricted pages of memory cells in a restricted level cellmode (e.g., lower and middle pages for an MLC restricted level cellmode, lower pages for an SLC restricted level cell mode) reduces thecapacity of the non-volatile memory device 120, in some embodiments thereliability and/or longevity of the non-volatile memory device 120 isincreased. For example, memory cells that would otherwise have beenretired may continue to be used to store data in a reduced level cellmode. More specifically, writing user/workload data exclusively to oneor more lower pages of memory cells in a restricted level cell mode mayplace less stress on the individual non-volatile memory cells and,thereby, reduce instances of failure in the non-volatile memory device120. In addition, the manufacturer and consumer may take advantage ofthe lower cost of the MLC or TLC memory media while getting performancecomparable to, or better than, conventional SLC memory media.Furthermore, some embodiments may use mapping logic to handle mappingthe pages, and a manufacturer may easily switch between TLC, MLC, andSLC media for the non-volatile memory device 120, or differentproduction runs, without having to make major redesigns each time.Further, because, in certain embodiments, the reduced level cell mode isimplemented based on a data encoding, such as a Gray code, that iscommon to non-volatile memory media 122 of different types, makes,and/or models (e.g., from different manufacturers or vendors), thereduced level cell module 150 and/or associated logic (e.g., a devicedriver, the SML 130, the controller 124, 126) may be used with little orno modification with the different non-volatile memory media 122,providing a single, substantially universal solution.

Storing data in a subset of the total abodes or program states ofcertain memory cells may impact the overall functionality of thenon-volatile memory device 120. In certain embodiments, the delayexperienced in storing data may be decreased and the non-volatile memorycells may exhibit less tendency to have values inadvertently drift orshift due to program or read disturbs or the like. In addition, storingthe data in the LSB and/or CSB may cause less wear on the non-volatilememory cells for a particular programming operation, at least forcertain types, makes, and/or models of media 122. For example, referringto FIG. 9C, using the LSB to store data may involve only the erasestate/L0 and the A/L1 state as valid, available states. Since the A/L1state uses a lower programming voltage (compared with the B/L2 and C/L3states), the non-volatile memory cell may experience less wear and/ordamage as it is used.

In some embodiments, it may be possible to dynamically switch betweenTLC, MLC, and/or SLC modes. Additionally, it may be possible todynamically switch between different SLC modes using the MSB, the CSB,and/or the LSB to store the user/workload data. For example, when theability of the non-volatile memory device 120 to reliably store data inthe upper pages (e.g., MSB pages) is compromised, the endurance module206 may dynamically reconfigure write and read requests to exclusivelystore user/workload data in one or more lower pages (e.g., LSB and/orCSB pages), then as the media 122 continues to deteriorate maydynamically reconfigure write and read requests to exclusively storeuser/workload data in a lower page (e.g., LSB pages), or the like. Asdescribed above, depending on the type, make, and/or model, in certainembodiments, this may be done by only programming the available orunrestricted pages, while in other embodiments, audit data such as apredefined endurance pattern may be programmed to unavailable,restricted pages. Unavailable, restricted pages may simply be skipped orignored in the addressing of the pages.

In one embodiment, the endurance module 206 is configured to increasethe endurance and/or longevity of memory cells in a reduced level cellmode, reduce a likelihood of errors for memory cells in a reduced levelcell mode, or the like by adjusting the abodes or program states used oravailable for use to store or encode user/workload data. The endurancemodule 206, in one embodiment, may be configured to write, or otherwisecause to be programmed (e.g., instruct the non-volatile memory device120 to program), a predefined endurance data pattern to an unavailableor restricted page (e.g., an upper page) of a set or region of memorycells, such as an erase block, operating in a reduced level cell mode(e.g., in response to an endurance characteristic such as an error ratesatisfying a threshold), instead of user/workload data being written tothe unavailable or restricted page. An endurance pattern or otherpredefined data pattern of the endurance module 206, as used herein,comprises one or more data bit values that, by being programmed, areconfigured or selected to adjust, define, configure, dictate, orotherwise determine which subset of program states or abodes of a set ofmemory cells are used, available, or valid for storing or encodinguser/workload data and/or, conversely, which program states or abodesare masked, unused, unavailable, or invalid for storing user/workloaddata.

For example, if the trigger module 202 has placed a set of TLC memorycells in a reduced level cell mode, where the lower and middle pagesstore valid user/workload data, the endurance module 206 may use anoperation, such as an XNOR logical equality operation, on theuser/workload data for the lower and middle pages, to determine a datapattern (e.g., predefined by the associated operation) that may beprogrammed to place a restricted or unavailable abode between the valid,available abodes. For example, as can be seen for the data encoding ofFIG. 12, if an XNOR operation is performed on the lower page/LSBs andthe middle page/CSBs, for each possible value of a LSB and CSB,programming the MSB with the resulting data pattern results in abodesL0, L2, L4, and L6 being available for encoding the valid user/workloaddata of the lower and middle pages. Therefore, for the Gray codedepicted in FIG. 12, programming the upper page with an XNOR datapattern restricts or limits the abodes that are available for storing orencoding user/workload data to L0, L2, L4, and L6, making abodes L1, L3,L5, and L7 unavailable, masked, restricted, unused, and/or invalid.

An XNOR operation may comprise a logical equality operator that resultsin a binary one or true output if both inputs have the same logicalvalue (e.g., both binary ones, both binary zeroes) and a binary zero orfalse output if the inputs have different logical values (e.g., a binaryone and a binary zero). An XNOR operation may also be referred to as anNXOR operation, since it is the negation or inverse of an XOR operation.In other embodiments, for other data encodings, or the like, theendurance module 206 may use one or more different operations on datafor available, unrestricted pages or bits (e.g., lower and middle pages)to determine or dictate which abodes or program states are available tostore or encode the data. As described below, in certain embodiments thebuffer module 212 may buffer or store data prior to programming the datato a set of memory cells operating in a restricted level cell mode sothat the endurance module 206 may perform one or more operations on thedata to determine a predefined endurance data pattern.

In certain embodiments, performing a data operation to determine anoptimal or near optimal predefined endurance pattern (e.g., predefinedin that the operation is known) may substantially evenly distributeavailable abodes or storage states when programmed to a predefined pageof a set of memory cells (e.g., an upper page), with unused orunavailable abodes or storage states between each available one.However, in certain embodiments, in order to avoid buffering data,keeping a history of data, reading previously programmed data, or thelike, the endurance module 206 may use a constant endurance datapattern, instead of a variable pattern defined by an operation,balancing simplicity with efficiency. For example, with the dataencoding of FIG. 12, the endurance module 206 may use an endurance datapattern consisting exclusively of binary ones, for simplicity, therebydefining abodes L0, L3, L4, and L7 as available for encoding or storingdata and masking or restricting abodes L1, L2, L5, and L6.

An endurance data pattern of all ones, in the Gray code data encodingembodiment of FIG. 12, when programmed, provides a separation distancebetween abodes L0 and L3 and between L4 and L7, however L3 and L4 remainadjacent. In certain embodiments, programming an endurance data patternof exclusively ones reduces an error rate, a likelihood of an error, orthe like when compared to memory cells that are not in a reduced levelcell mode, because of the separation of abodes L0 and L3 and L4 and L7,even though L3 and L4 are adjacent. Other predefined or otherwise knownendurance data patterns may also be used, and may be based on a dataencoding for the memory cells of the non-volatile memory media 122, toprovide a greater separation distance between abodes in a reduced levelcell mode.

In certain embodiments, the predefined endurance data pattern maycomprise error correction information for the data of the lower page,the middle page, or the like. XNOR data, for example, as describedabove, may be used as error correction information or redundant paritydata, allowing a memory controller 124, 126, the SML 130, or the like todetermine which bits are in error upon being read back from thenon-volatile memory media 122. In other embodiments, the predefinedendurance data pattern or audit data may include a Hamming code,Reed-Solomon code, Bose-Chaudhuri-Hocquenghem (BCH) code, Low-densityparity check (LDPC) code, convolutional code, soft-decision algorithmcode, belief-propagation code, or other error correcting code (ECC)information for the valid user/workload data stored in the one or moreother pages of the memory cells. The error correction information of theendurance data pattern, in one embodiment, may be used as an extra,backup layer of error protection, useful as the non-volatile memorymedia 122 ages, in addition to an existing layer of error correctioninformation already protecting the user/workload data, allowing agreater number of errors to be corrected, or the like.

In one embodiment, instead of writing or causing a predefined endurancedata pattern to be programmed to a set of memory media in a reducedlevel cell mode, the endurance module 206 may cooperate with the programmodule 204 to simply skip programming of an unused page, such as anupper, MSB page or the like. For example, with regard to the dataencoding of FIG. 12, the endurance module 206 and/or the program module204 may stop after stage 2, leaving the memory cells in a MSB reducedlevel cell mode. While this may be effective, in certain embodiments,for certain types, makes, or models of memory media 122 from certainmanufacturers, other embodiments of non-volatile memory media 122 mayrequire that all three pages of a set of non-volatile memory cells beprogrammed.

For example, certain non-volatile memory media 122 may be programmed ina single stage, with eight abodes or the like, being programmed directlyto the stage depicted in FIG. 12, or the like. In another embodiment,non-volatile memory media 122 may be programmed in multiple stages, butmay include all eight abodes or program states for each stage, simplynarrowing or dialing in the abodes with each stage or the like. However,in certain embodiments, regardless of the arrangement of abodes orprogram states in different stages for different types of memory media122, the different types or architectures of memory media 122 may have asimilar data encoding, such as the Gray code encoding of FIG. 12,allowing the endurance module 206 to provide a reduced level cell modein substantially the same manner for the different types of memory media122, using the same predetermined endurance data pattern or the likebased on the shared encoding.

The endurance module 206, in one embodiment, as described above, mayprovide at least a predefined separation distance between the abodes orprogram states available for valid user/workload data in a reduced levelcell mode by determining a predefined endurance data pattern,programming the endurance data pattern to a third/upper page, or thelike. In a further embodiment, the endurance module 206 may provide atleast a predefined separation distance (e.g., guard band, read windowbudget) between the abodes or program states available for validuser/workload data in a reduced level cell mode by adjusting orotherwise defining one or more thresholds or boundaries for the abodes,such as a read voltage threshold, a program verify threshold, or thelike. As described below, a program verify threshold may be used after astep pulse of a program operation to verify that a memory cell has beenprogrammed to at least the program verify threshold voltage level. Forexample, the program voltage pulses may continue until at least theprogram verify threshold has been reached. The read voltage thresholdmay be set at a lower voltage level than the program verify threshold toprovide a guard band or read window budget at the boundary of an abode,to allow for drift or disturbance of the stored voltage.

In one embodiment, the endurance module 206 may adjust boundaries orother thresholds of abodes to merge multiple abodes (e.g., merge TLCabodes into MLC abodes, merge MLC abodes into SLC abodes) for thereduced level cell mode. The endurance module 206 may literally merge orcombine abodes or program states, such that the merged abodes comprise asingle program state or, in a further embodiment, may merge abodes orprogram states virtually, interpreting read voltages falling in eithermerged abode or program state as if it came from a larger merged abode(e.g., for the encoding of FIG. 12, L0 and L1, L2 and L3, L4 and L5, andL6 and L7 may be merged). In certain embodiments, the endurance module206 may simply move and/or expand abodes L1, L2, and L3 to overlap,cover-up, mask, or replace the unused or unavailable L4, L5, L6, and L7abodes. In one embodiment, the endurance module 206 may merge orotherwise adjust abodes or program states to provide a reduced levelcell mode without using a predefined endurance data pattern (e.g., theendurance module 206 may skip programming the third/upper page).

In a further embodiment, the endurance module 206 may adjust abodethresholds or boundaries to move valid, available, used abodes away fromeach other. For example, in embodiments where the endurance module 206programs an endurance data pattern of binary ones to a third page, anupper page, or the like as described above, the endurance module 206 mayadjust program verify threshold for the L3 and L4 abodes to separate ormove them away from each other (e.g., lower a program verify thresholdfor L3 and increase a program verify threshold for L4), providing thesame or similar benefits of programming an XNOR endurance data patternwithout the overhead of buffering data or maintaining a data history. Insuch embodiments, the endurance module 206 may adjust thresholds andboundaries of abodes and program a predefined endurance data pattern toa third/upper page to provide a reduced level cell mode.

The endurance module 206 may use abode management and/or programming ofa predefined endurance data pattern to define or determine which abodesare available for use to store valid user/workload data in a reducedlevel cell mode and to maximize the separation distances between thoseabodes. In this manner, the endurance module 206 may mask or restrict atleast half of the native TLC mode abodes of a set of memory cells, sothat up to half of the abodes of the TLC mode remain available to storevalid user/workload data in the reduced level cell mode. If theendurance module 206 reduces the number of available abodes by half(e.g., from eight abodes to four), the capacity of the memory cells willonly be reduced by one third. If, at a later time after first providingan MLC reduced level cell mode, the endurance module 206 reduces thenumber of available abodes by three quarters (e.g., from eight abodes totwo) to provide an SLC reduced level cell mode, the capacity of thememory cells will be reduced by two thirds, and the usable lifetime ofthe memory cells may be extended well beyond their usability in theirnative TLC mode.

In one embodiment, the endurance module 206 may write the endurance datapattern or cause it to be programmed to a third/upper page of a set ofmemory cells as a background process, after the first/lower andsecond/middle pages have already been either buffered or programmed. Inthis manner, determining and programming the endurance data pattern maycause little or no interruption or disturbance to foreground writetraffic, but may be performed periodically, during low-load, low-traffictimes, or the like. As described below with regard to the buffer module212, in certain embodiments, the first/lower page of data and/or thesecond/middle page of data, in certain embodiments, may be buffered, tosatisfy sequential write order requirements, so that they can beprogrammed together with the endurance data pattern, to interleaveprogramming of pages for different sets of memory cells, to providepersistence of the buffered data in case of a restart event or failure,or the like.

In one embodiment, the endurance module 206 may read at least one auditbit of a memory cell to determine a logic value of the at least oneaudit bit. The endurance module 206 reads the at least one audit bit inresponse to an audit triggering event. The audit triggering eventcomprises one or more of a read count satisfying a read count threshold,a program/erase count satisfying a program/erase count threshold, anerror rate satisfying an error rate threshold, a number of detected dataerrors satisfying an error threshold, a number of detected errors in anECC block exceeding a number of errors that are correctable using ECCinformation for the block (e.g., an uncorrectable error), a number ofoperations satisfying an operation threshold, a time of operationsatisfying an age threshold, or the like.

In one embodiment, the endurance module 206 may compare the logic valueof an audit bit read by the endurance module 206 with an expected logicvalue that was programmed into the audit bit by the program module 204(e.g., an XNOR of the lower and middle pages, or the like). In anotherembodiment, the endurance module 206 sends an alert in response todetermining that the read logic value differs from the programmed logicvalue. In a further embodiment, the endurance module 206 may correct anerror in the user/workload data of the lower and/or middle page based onone or more audit bits read from the upper page.

In this manner, the reduced level cell module 150, in the describedembodiments, may increase an endurance of TLC NAND flash or anothermemory media 122 beyond a normal wear expectancy by discontinuing use ofone of the three pages for a set of memory cells when an error ratesatisfies an error threshold (e.g., is above an acceptable level) andmay continue to use the set of memory cells with only two pages inselected blocks. The non-volatile memory media 122 may appear to be usedin its native TLC mode, but with only two valid bits of user/workloaddata stored per memory cell in the reduced level cell mode (e.g., fourvalid, used states, four other states used to bias the valid states awayfrom each other).

FIG. 2B depicts one embodiment of a reduced level cell module 150. Thereduced level cell module 150 may be substantially similar to thereduced level cell module 150 described above with regard to FIG. 1and/or FIG. 2A. In the depicted embodiment, the reduced level cellmodule 150 includes the trigger module 202, the program module 204, andthe endurance module 206 and further includes a retirement module 210and a buffer module 212. The endurance module 206, in the depictedembodiment, includes a pattern module 214 and a threshold module 216.

In one embodiment, the retirement module 210 is configured to retire aset of memory cells, such as an erase block, from storing validuser/workload data in response to an error rate satisfying a retirementerror threshold or another endurance characteristic satisfying anendurance threshold as described above with regard to the trigger module202. The retirement module 210, in certain embodiments, retires a set orregion of memory cells, such as an erase block, only after it has firstoperated in one or more reduced level cell modes. For example, thetrigger module 202 may initiate a MLC reduced level cell mode for a setof TLC memory cells in response to an endurance characteristic (e.g., anerror rate) for the memory cells satisfying an endurance threshold, mayinitiate a SLC reduced level cell mode for the memory cells in responseto an endurance characteristic again satisfying an endurance threshold,and may trigger the retirement module 210 to retire the set of memorycells in response to an endurance characteristic satisfying an endurancethreshold in the SLC reduced level cell mode. In other embodiments, theretirement module 210 may retire a set of memory cells directly from aMLC reduced level cell mode, without the memory cells first operating ina SLC reduced level cell mode, or the like.

In one embodiment, the buffer module 212 is configured to buffer orstore data to be programmed to a region or set of memory cells of thenon-volatile memory media 122. In certain embodiments, the buffer module212 may store buffered data in volatile memory, such as the volatilememory 112 of the host computing device 110, volatile memory of thenon-volatile memory device 120, or the like. The non-volatile memorydevice 120, in certain embodiments, include a secondary power supply,such as one or more capacitors, batteries, or the like to provide a holdup time during which buffered data may be programmed to the non-volatilememory media 122 in response to an unexpected restart event or failure.A restart event, as used herein, comprises an intentional orunintentional loss of power to at least a portion of the host computingdevice 110 and/or the non-volatile memory device 120. A restart eventmay comprise a system reboot, reset, or shutdown event; a power fault,power loss, or power failure event; or another interruption or reductionof power.

In certain embodiments, the buffer module 212 may store buffered datawithin the non-volatile memory media 122 of the non-volatile memorydevice 120 itself, such as in one or more different erase blocksconfigured or partitioned as SLC memory cells, so that the data ispersistently stored but so that a sequential programming order does notapply. For example, enough volatile memory may not exist within thenon-volatile memory device 120, a hold up time for the non-volatilememory device 120 may not be long enough to program all of the buffereddata, or the like and buffering the data in the non-volatile memorymedia 122 may protect the data from a restart event, so that the datamay still be programmed after the restart event from the one or moredifferent erase blocks. For example, to provide greater data throughput,write bandwidth, or the like, the non-volatile memory controller 124,126 and/or the program module 204 may use an interleaved programmingorder. For TLC memory cells with three pages or bits per cell, theprogram module 204 may instruct the non-volatile memory device 120 toprogram in an interleaved order, such as a lower page of a first set ofmemory cells, a lower page of a second set of memory cells, a lower pageof a third set of memory cells, a middle page of the first set of memorycells, a middle page of the second set of memory cells, a middle page ofthe third set of memory cells, an upper page of the first set of memorycells, an upper page of the second set of memory cells, and an upperpage of the third set of memory cells, or the like. In such anembodiment, the buffer module 212 may buffer several pages at a time.

As described above, in certain embodiments, the endurance module 206 mydetermine a predefined endurance data pattern for an upper page based onthe data for the lower and middle pages. In other embodiments, thenon-volatile memory media 122 may require that all three pages of datafor a set of memory cells be known before programming any of the pages,or that all three pages be programmed at the same time. If all threepages are not programmed, even the programmed pages may be lost if arestart event occurs. For at least these reasons, in certainembodiments, the buffer module 212 may buffer or store all three pagesof data for a set of storage cells. In a further embodiment, to provideinterleaving as described above, the buffer module 212 may buffer ninepages, three for each of three different sets of storage cells (e.g.,pages or word lines within an erase block, within one or more differenterase blocks, or the like).

In embodiments where the endurance module 206 determines an endurancedata pattern by performing an operation on user/workload data for one ormore lower pages (e.g., a lower page and a middle page), such as an XNORoperation, the buffer module 212 may buffer the user/workload data andthe endurance module 206 may perform the operation on the buffered data.The buffer module 212, in certain embodiments, may also buffer theresults of the operation (e.g., the resulting endurance data pattern) sothat the three associated pages of data may be written simultaneously ormay be written according to a prescribed sequential programming order,based on the type, make, and/or model of the non-volatile memory media122.

In embodiments where the predefined endurance pattern is constant,static, or known, the buffer module 212 may maintain a page of data in adifferent erase block of the non-volatile memory media 122, such as apage or erase block configured as SLC memory cells, with the predefinedendurance pattern. In this manner, the buffer module 212 may stream,transfer, or copy the predefined endurance pattern from the singlelocation to each third/upper page that is written to memory cellsoperating in a reduced level cell mode, without re-writing or moving thepredefined endurance pattern repeatedly. For a predefined endurancepattern of exclusively binary ones, this may be especially convenient,as the buffer module 212 may simply stream a page of binary ones from anunused, erased page or erase block, without separately writing orprogramming the predefined endurance pattern to buffer it, since NANDflash memory cells may store binary ones in an erased state. In otherembodiments, the endurance module 206 may generate a predefinedendurance pattern and provide it for programming without the buffermodule 212 buffering the data pattern.

In one embodiment, the endurance module 206 is configured to use thepattern module 214 to determine and/or retrieve a predefined endurancedata pattern. For example, the pattern module 214 may determine apredefined endurance data pattern based on user/workload data for one ormore lower order pages (e.g., a lower page and a middle page) byperforming an operation such as an XNOR logical equality operation orthe like on the data, may use a constant or fixed predefined endurancedata pattern such as binary ones, may determine error correctioninformation for the data, or the like, as described above.

The endurance module 206, in certain embodiments, may use the thresholdmodule 216 to adjust, determine, set, or otherwise manipulate thresholdsand/or boundaries for abodes or program states of memory cells in areduced level cell mode, to separate available abodes, to mask, hide, orrestrict unavailable abodes, or the like. As described above with regardto the endurance module 206, in certain embodiments, the endurancemodule 206 may provide a reduced level cell mode using the patternmodule 214 without the threshold module 216. In other embodiments, theendurance module 206 may use the threshold module 216 to provide areduced level cell mode without the pattern module 214. In a furtherembodiment, the endurance module 206 may use both the pattern module 214to determine and program endurance data patterns and the thresholdmodule 216 to adjust thresholds and boundaries of abodes to provide areduced level cell mode.

As described above, a guard band or read window budget may comprise arange of a data-encoding physical property of a cell, such as a readvoltage or the like, which separates states or abodes of the cell (e.g.,a separation distance). In certain embodiments, a guard band may bedefined as the difference between a level at which a data-encodingphysical property of a cell is programmed or verified, and a level atwhich it is read. As one example, in the four-state Gray-encoded celldescribed above with states L0, L1, L2, and L3 mapped onto data values“11,” “01,” “00,” and “10,” the LSB is the second bit, which experiencesa transition between the L1 and L2 states, transitioning from “01” to“00.” Accordingly, widening the guard band or separation distancebetween the L1 and L2 states will further increase the reliability ofthe LSB. Alternatively, narrowing the guard band or separation distancebetween the L1 and L2 states may reduce the reliability of the LSB andallow the reliability of the MSB to be increased by widening guard bandsbetween other states.

A read voltage threshold, as described above, is a voltage level thatseparates discrete values stored in the memory cells of the non-volatilememory media 122. Different non-volatile memory technologies may usedifferent thresholds other than voltages to distinguish between discretestates. Phase change RAM or PRAM, for example, stores data inchalcogenide glass that has different electrical resistivity indifferent states. For PRAM, the threshold module 216 may determine, set,and/or adjust resistivity thresholds that distinguish between discretestorage states. The endurance module 206 may use the threshold module216 to adjust, update, change, or otherwise manipulate guard bands, readwindow budgets, read voltage thresholds, program verify thresholds,resistivity thresholds, or other thresholds, boundaries, and/orpositions associated with or affecting separation distances betweenabodes or program states.

For SLC memory cells that store a single binary value, the read voltagethreshold is the boundary between a binary one state and a binary zerostate. For example, in one embodiment, a memory cell with a read voltagelevel above the read voltage threshold stores a binary one while astorage cell with a read voltage level below the read voltage thresholdstores a binary zero. Other types of memory cells, such as TLC or MLCmemory cells, may have multiple read voltage thresholds, to distinguishbetween more than two discrete states.

For example, in one embodiment, MLC memory cells that store two bits mayhave three read voltage thresholds, separating binary values of 11, 01,00, and 10. The three example read voltage thresholds may be x volts, yvolts, and z volts. If the voltage read from a storage cell fallsbetween Vmin and x volts, a binary 11 state is indicated. In certainembodiments, Vmin may be a negative voltage. If the voltage read from astorage cell falls between x volts and y volts, a binary 01 state isindicated. If the voltage read from a storage cell falls between y voltsand z volts, a binary 00 state is indicated. If the voltage read from astorage cell falls between z volts and Vmax volts, a binary 10 state isindicated.

The voltages for Vmin, Vmax, x, y, and z may vary based on themanufacturer of the memory cells. Read voltages, for example, may rangebetween −3.5 and 5.8 volts, or between another predefined range ofvoltages. Similarly, the order of binary state changes 11, 01, 00, and10 relative to read voltage thresholds may vary based on the encodingtype used, such as a Gray code encoding type, a binary code encodingtype, or the like. One example encoding type is described below withregard to FIGS. 11B and 12. As described above, although a single MLCmemory cell may store multiple bits, bits from a single memory cell maynot have adjacent addresses, and may be included in different physicalpages, logical pages, or the like. Accordingly, in various embodiments,the threshold module 216 may manage configuration parameters, such asread voltage thresholds or other storage thresholds, at variousgranularities, such as per abode/program state, per page (logical orphysical), per erase block (logical or physical), per set of pages, perECC chunk/codeword, per word line, per chip, per die, per die plane, orthe like.

In certain embodiments, instead of referring to a boundary betweendiscrete values, a read voltage threshold comprises a range of voltages(a maximum and a minimum) that indicate a value. A voltage thresholdthat is a range can be adjusted by changing the boundary at either end,or at both ends, of the range. The read voltage thresholds or otherconfiguration parameters for the non-volatile memory media 122, in oneembodiment, are initially set at a default level that may be defined bya manufacturer. Often such configuration parameter default levels areset to accommodate a large range of general purpose uses of thenon-volatile memory media 122. Advantageously, embodiments of theconfiguration module 352 allow the non-volatile memory media 122 to beused most optimally based on more specific use characteristics. Thethreshold module 216, in certain embodiments, overrides the defaultlevel for one or more configuration parameters, setting the one or moreconfiguration parameters to a different level based on endurancecharacteristics of the non-volatile memory media 122, to mask orrestrict unavailable abodes, or the like. The configuration module 352may set the configuration parameters to a level that decreases theamount of errors that the non-volatile memory media 122 encounters whencompared to the default level, to a level that increases the amount oferrors that may be detected and corrected when compared to the defaultlevel, to a level that increases the number of input/output operationsper second (“IOPS”) of the non-volatile memory media 122 when comparedto the default level, to a level that increases the usable life of thenon-volatile memory media 122 when compared to the default level, tolevels that provide a reduced level cell mode for a set of memory cells,and/or that otherwise improves the utility of the non-volatile memorymedia 122 when compared to the default level.

The read voltage levels of storage cells, and other configurationparameters, can also shift over time, due to leakage and otherdisturbances of the non-volatile memory media 122. The rate of leakagecan also increase with the wear and age of the non-volatile memory media122. If the read voltage level of a storage cell shifts past the readvoltage threshold, a data error occurs, as the value of the data readfrom the storage cell is different than the value of the data written tothe storage cell. The threshold module 216, in one embodiment, adjusts aread voltage threshold or other configuration parameter for one or morememory cells from the non-volatile memory media 122 to compensate forshifts in the read voltage levels of the memory cells by separatingavailable abodes by as much as possible in a reduced level cell mode. Byproactively and/or dynamically adjusting read voltage thresholds in areduced level cell mode, the threshold module 216 may increase theretention rate for and/or the reliability of data stored in thenon-volatile memory media 122 and extend the useable lifetime of thenon-volatile memory media 122 itself, as described above with regard tothe endurance module 206.

FIG. 3 is a schematic flow chart diagram illustrating one embodiment ofa method 300 for a reduced level cell mode in accordance with thepresent disclosure. The method 300 begins and the program module 204programs 302 two or more bits of a memory cell of the non-volatilememory device 120. The program module 204 programs 302 one or more databits with data and programs 304 at least one audit bit with audit data,such as an endurance data pattern. The audit data comprises a logicvalue and the data programmed into a data bit comprises a logic value.

The non-volatile memory controller 124 reads 306 at least one data bitwithin the memory cell. The endurance module 206 reads 308 at least oneaudit bit of the memory cell to determine a logic value of the at leastone audit bit. In one embodiment, the endurance module 206 reads 308 theat least one audit bit in response to an audit triggering event. Theendurance module 206 compares 310 the logic value of an audit bit readby the endurance module 206 with a logic value programmed into the auditbit by the program module 204. The endurance module 206 may store anexpected value for the audit bit (for example, the logic value that theendurance module 206 should write or a logic value that is set in theaudit bit by operation of the media for the memory cells) and use theexpected value to determine whether the logic value of the audit bitdiffers from the logic value of the audit bit as written, or maydetermine an expected value based on a known operation, such as an XNORlogical equality operation. If the endurance module 206 determines 312that the logic value of an audit bit read by the endurance module 206differs from a logic value programmed into the audit bit by the programmodule 204, the endurance module 206 sends 314 an alert and/or correctsthe error, and the method 300 ends. If the endurance module 206determines 312 that the logic value of an audit bit read by theendurance module 206 does not differ from a logic value programmed intothe audit bit by the program module 204, the method 300 ends.

While the specification and claims refers to a first read operation anda second read operation, this is intended only to show that the readoperations are separate. It is not intended to show that the first readoperation necessarily occurs before the second read operation, or thatany requisite temporal relationship exists between the read operations.To the contrary, in certain instances, the second read operation mayoccur before the first read operation. In certain instances, the firstread operation may occur before the second read operation, simultaneouswith the second read operation, or the like.

FIG. 4 depicts one representation of a triple level memory cell 402 in amemory device 120. The triple level memory cell 402 is a cell that has2̂n possible states, where n is equal to the number of bits per cell. Forexample, a triple level memory cell 402 such as the one shown in FIG. 4may store three bits of information, and accordingly have eight possiblestates or abodes, as discussed in greater detail below. In otherembodiments, a memory cell 402 may store two bits of information, andaccordingly have eight possible states or abodes; may store four bits ofinformation, and accordingly have thirty-two possible states or abodes;or the like.

The triple level memory cell 402 stores at least a most significant bit(MSB), a central significant bit (CSB), and a least significant bit(LSB). In certain embodiments, as shown in FIG. 4, the MSB, CSB, and theLSB, though part of the same physical triple level memory cell 402, maybe assigned to different pages of the media 122. In certain embodiments,a plurality of the triple level memory cells 402 are organized on thenon-volatile memory media 122 (such as NAND flash for example) as a pageor page tuple. In certain non-volatile memory media 122 comprising aplurality of the triple level memory cells 402 a page is the smallestunit that can be written to the media 122. In such embodiments, thetriple level memory cell 402 may be associated with a page tuple, asdescribed above that includes the upper page 404, the middle page 405,and the lower page 406. The upper page 404 is associated with the MSB,the middle page 405 is associated with the CSB, and the lower page 406is associated with the LSB. In this manner, the upper page 404, themiddle page 405, and the lower page 406 may be associated with or storedby the same, common set of memory cells 402 of the non-volatile memorymedia 122.

Thus, the MSB, the CSB, and the LSB in the same triple level memory cell402 may have different addresses in the memory device 120. In certainembodiments, the upper page 404 includes the MSBs of a plurality oftriple level memory cells 402, the middle page 405 includes the CSBs ofa plurality of triple level memory cells 402, and the lower page 406includes the LSBs of the same triple level memory cells 402. Writesdirected to the upper page 404 may therefore cause changes only in theMSBs of the associated triple level memory cells 402, while writesdirected to the lower page 406 cause changes only in the LSBs of theassociated triple level memory cells 402, and so on for writes to themiddle page 405. For triple level memory cells 402 such as NAND flash,writes directed to an upper page 404, a middle page 405, or a lower page406 may cause changes to only certain of the associated triple levelmemory cells 402, since an erase operation puts the triple level memorycells 402 in a first logic value state, and the write operation orprogram operation only changes certain triple level memory cells 402 ofa page to the opposite logic value state. Similarly, reads of datastored in the upper page 404 cause reads of the MSBs of multiple triplelevel memory cells 402, reads of data stored in the middle page 405cause read of the CSBs of multiple triple level memory cells 402, andreads of data stored in the lower page 406 cause reads of the LSBs ofmultiple triple level memory cells 402.

In certain embodiments, the triple level memory cell 402 may store twodata bits and an audit bit (e.g., a bit from a predefined endurance datapattern). The audit bit may be used as an indicator of the validity ofthe data bits with which the audit bit shares a triple level memory cell402, even though the bits are assigned different pages. A data bit isvalid if it has retained the value written to it during a previoussuccessful write operation. In one embodiment, the MSB serves as theaudit bit and the CSB and LSB serve as the data bits. In certainembodiments, there may be additional bits stored in the triple levelmemory cells. For example, certain multi-level memory cells may supportthree or more bits. In such embodiments, the bits that are not the MSBnor the LSB may be apportioned to act as data bits or audit bitsdepending on the needs of the storage system.

In certain embodiments, the data bits are read in response to requestsfor data that has been stored on the storage device 120. Such a requestmay be referenced as a first read operation. In certain embodiments, thefirst read operation is directed to the lower page 406 such that onlythe LSB is returned from the triple level memory cell 402. For example,a storage client 116 (e.g., a file system software application,operating system application, database management systems softwareapplication, a client computer, a client device, or the like) may storedata on a storage device 120. In this example, when the storage client116 sends a write request, the data is written exclusively to the lowerpage 406 and/or the middle page 405. As a result, the LSBs and/or theCSBs in the various triple level memory cells 402 are changed, but theMSBs are not changed by the write. Similarly, in this example, when thestorage client 116 reads data, the read is directed or addressed to thelower page 406 and/or the middle page 405 and only the LSBs and/or CSBsare read.

Writing user/workload data exclusively to the lower page 406 and/or themiddle page 405 may reduce the capacity of the solid state storage media122, but increase the reliability of the storage device 120. Forexample, as described below, writing exclusively to the lower page 406and/or the middle page 405 may place less stress on the individualtriple level memory cells 402 and thereby reduce instances of failure inthe storage device 120. In addition, the manufacturer and consumer maytake advantage of the lower cost of TLC or MLC media while gettingperformance comparable to SLC media.

The audit bits may be read in response to requests for audit data thatare requested by a second read operation that is separate from the firstread operation (e.g., a read of the upper page 404). As noted above, incertain embodiments, the standard reads generated by a storage client116 are for user/workload data, as opposed to audit data of a predefinedendurance data pattern. In certain embodiments, the audit data (and theassociated pages) are hidden from the storage client 116 such that thesepages are transparent to the storage client 116. However, certainprocesses may generate reads of the audit data in read requests that areseparate from the first read operation. Alternatively or in addition,certain processes, operations, or conditions of the storage device 120(described in more detail below) may trigger reads of the audit data inread requests that are separate from the first read operation.

In certain embodiments, the audit bits of the predefined endurance datapattern are read from the upper page 404 and may be compared to anexpected value for the audit bits. The expected value for an audit bitrepresents the value that the audit bit should have if the data in thetriple level memory cell 402 storing the audit bit has not changed froma value set in the audit bit prior to programming/writing the data bit.In certain solid-state storage the audit bit may change by a voltagestate for the triple level memory cell drifting above or below a voltagestate that the triple level memory cell 402 was programmed or set to.For example, the expected value of an audit bit may be a binary 1 value.Thus, the audit bit for the triple level memory cell 402 is read andcompared with the expected value. If the audit bit fails to match theexpected value for the audit bit, the storage device 120 may determinethat the validity of the data bit in the same triple level memory cell402 (the LSB in FIG. 4) is suspect. A data bit that matches the valuethat was written to the bit is valid, while a data bit that does notmatch the value that was written to the bit is invalid. That thevalidity of the data bit is suspect means that the data bit may still bevalid, but that the triple level memory cell 402 has changed states andtherefore the associated data bit may have also flipped and thereforemay be invalid. If there is a bit in error in the lower page 406 and/orthe middle page 405, then an audit bit associated with that bit in thelower page 406 may not match its expected value, providing a strongindicator that a data bit associated with the audit bit may be in error.As noted above, a data bit is valid if it has retained the value writtento it during a successful write or program operation. A data bit isinvalid if it has unexpectedly changed value due to a change in thetriple level memory cells 402's voltage state due to unexpected chargeleakage, unexpected charge retention, or other phenomena known tounintentionally alter the voltage state of a triple level memory cell402.

As explained above, in certain embodiments, the audit bit is read aspart of a second read operation that is separate from the first readoperation. The second read operations may be triggered as part of anaudit of the validity of the bits in the triple level memory cell 402(and/or other cells) in the storage device 120. The second readoperation may be initiated in response to an audit-triggering event. Anaudit-triggering event is some event that causes the storage device 120to read audit bits in triple level memory cells 402. An audit-triggeringevent may be a read count reaching a read limit. For example, after acertain predetermined number of read operations are executed on thetriple level memory cell 402, the storage device 120 may check the auditbit of the triple level memory cell 402 to check the integrity of thedata bit. An audit-triggering event may similarly include a programcount reaching a program count limit, an error rate reaching an errorrate limit, a number of detected data errors reaching an error limit,and a number of operations reaching an operation limit. In certainembodiments, a timer may be used such that when the timer reaches a timelimit, data in the triple level memory cells 402 are subjected to anaudit. In certain embodiments, the storage device 120 may perform auditswhen there are free cycles on the storage device 120. For example, whenthe buses, gate arrays, processors, or the like on the storage device120 are operating at capacity, the storage device 120 may use the extracapacity to perform audits. When the storage device 120 is operating atits limit (and therefore there are no free cycles) audit operations maybe delayed until the more critical operations complete.

In certain embodiments, the audit bit is never read unless there is anaudit-triggering event. Such an embodiment may speed operation of thedevice 120 and reduce the overhead associated with audit operations. Incertain embodiments, writing data exclusively to the lower page 406and/or the middle page 405 and not reading the audit bit unless there isan audit-triggering event results in lower cost TLC or MLC flash mediaperforming at a level substantially the same as more expensive SLC flashmedia.

In certain embodiments, the storage device 120 may be further configuredto read the audit bit along with the one or more data bits as part of asingle read operation (e.g., single step or multi-step read operation)in addition to reading the audit bit and the one or more data bits aspart of separate read operations. For example, the solid-state storagemedia vendors may add a new command that allows for two or more bits ina triple level memory cell 402 to be read or written two in a singlesolid-state storage media read or write instruction, even when the bitsof the triple level memory cell 402 are organized into different pages.Such an instruction may be configured to read both the audit bit and theone or more data bits from the triple level memory cell 402 as part ofthe same read operation. Reading an audit bit as well as data bits maybe advantageous when a high degree of assurance that the data in thetriple level memory cell 402 is valid is desirable. Such an embodimentwould allow the validity of the data to be checked as it is read usingthe audit bits. In such an embodiment, the audit bit and the one or moredata bits may be stored in the same page as opposed to being stored indifferent pages. In other embodiments, a read operation directed to apage containing a data bit may trigger a corresponding read of the pagecontaining the associated audit bit.

FIG. 5 shows one example of how embodiments of the present disclosuremay use an audit process in a memory device 120. FIG. 5 shows 12 bits ofan upper page 404, 12 corresponding bits of a middle page 405, and 12corresponding bits of a lower page 406. The upper page 404, middle page404, and lower page 406, in many embodiments, are much larger than 12bits, and embodiments of the disclosure are not limited to 12 bits,however 12 bits are illustrated for simplicity. The upper page 404,middle page 405, and lower page 406 together comprise a page tuple. Eachtriple level memory cell 402 of the media 122 may represent at least onebit in an upper page 404, at least one corresponding bit in a middlepage 405, and at least one corresponding bit in a lower page 406.

In certain embodiments, a storage device 120 uses an error correctioncode (ECC) to provide increased data reliability of particular “chunks”of data on the storage device solid-state media 122. In suchembodiments, the storage device 120 may use the ECC to check thevalidity of data stored in the lower page 406 and/or the middle page405. As explained above, the upper pages 404, at least in a reducedlevel cell mode, may store the audit data of a predefined endurance datapattern. The audit bits may be set to the expected value without anexplicit write command to the upper pages 404 as explained in greaterdetail below, or may be explicitly programmed to the upper pages 404. Incertain embodiments, the ECC validation algorithms can only detect acertain number of errors, and correct only a certain number of errors inthe data in the lower page 406 and/or the middle page 405. Generally,ECC validation algorithms can detect more bit errors than they cancorrect. For example, an ECC chunk may be able to correct up to 11 biterrors in a chunk. If more than 11 bit errors are detected, asupplemental error correction process may be initiated.

In one embodiment, audit data of the upper page 404 is used tosupplement the error correction process. In one embodiment, if theerrors in the ECC chunk (e.g., of the lower page 406, the middle page405, or the like) exceed the number of errors that can be corrected bythe ECC algorithm, an audit-triggering event is initiated.

In response, the storage device 120 may trigger reads of the audit bitsin the upper page 404 to determine if any audit bits fail to match theexpected value. For example, in FIG. 5, the expected value for the auditbits may be an XNOR of the corresponding bits of the lower page 406 andthe middle page 405, and the endurance module 206 and/or the storagedevice 120 may determine that bit 7 of the upper page 404 fails to matchthe expected XNOR value of “1,” while the rest of the audit bits havethe expected XNOR values. As noted above, in certain embodiments, theaudit bit 7 is stored in the same physical triple level memory cell 402as data bit 7 even though they belong to different pages. Consequently,changes in the value of the data bit due to voltage leakage, voltageincrease due to read or write disturbs from neighboring memory cells,and the like that affect the data bits 7 of the triple level memory cell402 may also affect the audit bit 7. The storage device 120 may make anassumption that the error in the lower page 406 or the middle page 405is at the bit 7 position, since the audit bit in the upper page 404associated with the bit 7 position is also in error. While such anassumption is not guaranteed to be correct, the identification of bit 7as a suspect data bit provides initial information that can be used insupplemental error correction processes to minimize supplemental errorcorrection overhead. Furthermore, information identifying a single bitas having a very high likelihood of being in error may also be combinedwith information about physically neighboring triple level memory cells402 that may also indicate suspect data bit values.

A variety of supplemental error correction processes may be used,including parity substitution, changing the suspect data bit to itsopposite binary value, and the like. For example, one approach involvesreading data from an array of memory devices along with parityinformation for the data. An ECC module determines if errors exist andare correctable using the ECC. An isolation module replaces data readfrom a bad memory device with data generated from the parity data toreplace the bad data. In certain embodiments, the storage device 120 mayrespond to identifying a suspect data bit by flipping the data bit inthe triple level memory cell 402 if the associated audit bit does notmatch the expected value, and thereafter rechecking the ECC chunk. Tocontinue the example in FIG. 5, the storage device may flip the value ofbit 7 in the lower page 406 from a 1 to a 0, and then check the lowerpage 406 again using the ECC algorithm to determine whether the numberof bit errors in the lower page 406 has been reduced to a correctablenumber, and/or perform the same process for bit 7 of the middle page405.

FIG. 6 shows one embodiment of a programming model for a multi-levelmemory cell. While FIG. 6 depicts an encoding or programming model foran MLC memory cell capable of storing two bits encoded by four states orabodes, the description is equally applicable to a TLC memory cellcapable of storing three bits encoded by eight states or abodes, both ofwhich may operate in a reduced level cell mode. Certain aspects of theforegoing discussion may be applicable only to those multi-level memorycells having the represented programming model. Other aspects aregenerally applicable. Any limitations inherent in the representedprogramming model do not necessarily apply to all other programmingmodels, and the present disclosure should not be construed as inherentlycontaining any such limitations.

FIG. 6 shows that the value “11” is associated with the lowest voltagestate (labeled L0), the value “00” is associated with the highestvoltage state (labeled L3), and “10” and “01” are associated withintermediate states L2 and L1 respectively. The storage device 120interprets the four discrete levels of voltage stored in the multi-levelmemory cell as representing two binary bits, a most significant bit anda least significant bit. As explained above, other programming modelsmay be used. Also, certain storage devices 120 may have more than fourpossible states, allowing more than two binary values to be stored in asingle triple level memory cell 402 or the like. The voltage levels L0,L1, L2, and L3 may or may not be contiguous; for example, in certainembodiments, the voltage levels are separated by band gaps (e.g.,separation distances) known as guard band or read window budget. Forexample, L0 and L1 may be separated by 0.3V. In certain embodiments,unused, invalid, or unavailable abodes or program states may be used toincrease the separation distances or guard band in a reduced level cellmode as shown in FIG. 6.

In one embodiment, the LSB corresponds to the lower page 406 and the MSBcorresponds to the upper page 404. In certain embodiments, if a memorycell is in a reduced level cell mode, user/workload data sent to thestorage device 120 to be stored thereon is only stored in the LSB, andthe MSB is used as an audit bit of a predefined endurance data patternto ensure the integrity of the data stored in the LSB, provide a greaterseparation distance between abodes available to store or encode data ofthe LSB, or the like. In certain embodiments, the expected value for theaudit bit is a binary “1.” In such an embodiment, the valid statesavailable to store or encode user/workload data for the multi-levelmemory cell are at L0 (when the data bit should store a 1) and L2 (whenthe data bit should store a 0). In certain embodiments, the expectedvalue for the audit bit is selected to be the binary value that theaudit bit will be given after the multi-level memory cell has beenerased and is ready for programming. For example, all bits in themulti-level memory cell may be set to binary 1 after they are erased. Insuch embodiments, the audit bit may be therefore expected to be a 1, andwrites to the data bit are executed such that the audit bit value doesnot change from 1. To again reference FIG. 6, L0 and L2 correspond tosuch states. In other embodiments, for certain TLC memory cells or thelike, the audit bits of the predefined endurance data pattern may beexplicitly programmed, even if the data pattern consists of a pattern ofall binary ones.

For example, in FIG. 6, the multi-level memory cell may be placed in L0(e.g., an erased state) after an erase operation. L0 is thus the validstate when the data bit contains a 1. If the data bit is changed to a 0,the program operation changes the state from L0 to L2, which changes thevalue of the data (assuming the LSB is the data bit) but does not changethe value of the audit bit (assuming the MSB is the audit bit). Incertain embodiments, discussed below, the multi-level memory cell mayadhere to a two-phase programming model, which requires that the LSB bewritten to before the MSB can be written. In such a two-phaseprogramming model, choosing to write data only to the LSB as inembodiments of the present disclosure means that the individualmulti-level memory cells could not move into state L1. Even if both theLSB and MSB pages are written to in the sequence consistent with thetwo-phase programming model the states would progress from L0 to L2 toL3 and then back to L0 when the erase block for these pages is erased.

In certain embodiments, as shown in FIG. 6, certain states or abodes arenot used to store data; rather, they are unused or unavailable andthereby provide additional guard band or separation distance to enhancedata retention for the other, available states. For example, in FIG. 6,L0 is a valid, available state and L2 is a valid, available state forencoding or storing valid, user/workload data. As discussed above, incertain embodiments, the valid states for the device 120 may be L0 andL1. Many solid-state storage devices cannot thereafter intentionally gofrom L2 to L1 directly. In order to go from L2 to L1, the multi-levelmemory cell (and other multi-level memory cells in the same erase block)would be erased and returned to L0, at which point the multi-levelmemory cell could transition from L0 to L1. By transitioning from L0 toL2, state L1 can be considered unavailable and used as additional guardband, increasing the separation distance between valid abodes (e.g., thedistance between L0 and L2 is greater than the distance between L0 andL1). This may be in addition to guard band already built into thestorage device 120; for example, there may be a 0.3V separation betweenL1 and L0 which acts as a guard band between those two states.

In certain embodiments, the valid, available states are selected suchthat all valid, available states are less than the highest supportedstate in the multi-level memory cell. Such a configuration may be usefulin extending the life of the storage device 120 by reducing the stressplaced on the individual multi-level memory cells that occurs when thecells are pushed to the maximum supported voltage level. Such anembodiment may further reduce the risk of overshooting the maximumsupported voltage level and damaging the multi-level memory cell.

The guard bands or separation distances represent a difference involtage levels that protect the data bit from drift caused by leakage ordisturbances described above. A larger guard band may facilitate betterdata retention by allowing more drift without altering the binary stateof the data bit stored in the cell. In the example shown in FIG. 6, ifthe multi-level memory cell has been programmed to the L0 level, and thevoltage in the multi-level memory cell unintentionally drifts up intothe L1 level, the data bit (represented in the LSB) will not register asan error, or as invalid (since it remains at a 1). Thus, reads of thelower page 406 will not return an error at the bit associated with thisparticular multi-level memory cell.

However, the audit bit for L1 has changed from a 1 to a 0 and does notmeet the expected value of 1. Thus, audits that check the validity ofthe audit bit will detect the error in the audit bit. In certainembodiments, the storage device 120 may tally the number of times thatan audit bit fails to match its expected value. After a certain numberof times, the storage device 120 may deem the particular multi-levelmemory cell to be unreliable for continued use. The number of times theaudit bit fails to match the expected value may be an element of areliability algorithm to determine the reliability of the multi-levelmemory cell that takes into account numerous other factors. In certainembodiments, reliability is determined on a larger scale, such as on anerase block scale. Thus, the failure of a particular multi-level memorycell to have an audit bit that matches its expected value may contributeto metrics determining the reliability of the erase block to which themulti-level memory cell belongs. The failure may further contribute tometrics determining the reliability of the storage device 120 as awhole.

If the multi-level memory cell is deemed unreliable, multi-level memorycell may be marked as such. Alternatively, the storage device 120 maytake the multi-level memory cell out of service by adjusting an addressmapping to make the multi-level memory cell un-addressable. In responseto determining that the multi-level memory cell is unreliable, thestorage device 120 may retire the multi-level memory cell, configure themulti-level memory cell to store only a single bit, or take other actionthat may be appropriate. Such action may occur on a larger scale than asingle multi-level memory cell; for example, retirement andreconfiguration or remapping may occur at the erase block level, or thelike.

If the state of the multi-level memory cell is set to L2, and thevoltage drifts down to the L1 level, the LSB will have changed values.Thus, in certain embodiments, the storage device may detect the error inthe LSB during a read of the data of the lower page 406 (for example dueto an ECC validation check). If the voltage drifts up from L2 to L3, thedrift may be detected during an audit, but the data in the LSB (whichremains a 0) remains unchanged and valid.

As noted above, if a drift occurs which causes a change in the data bit,the error is detected using ECC algorithm as part of a read process forthe data. However, the storage device 120 may not be able to detectwhich particular bits are in error. For example, when the number oferrors exceeds 11 bits in a code word, the ECC may not be powerfulenough to identify the bit error locations. Since the upper page 404holds the expected value in each bit, the upper page 404 can serve as amask or indicator of potentially invalid bits of the lower page 406. Forexample, by scanning for 0 values in the upper page 404, the storagedevice 120 may determine which bits are likely in error. Even if theaudit bits do not indicate with complete certainty which data bits arein error, by indicating which data bits are likely in error, the storagedevice 120 can go through an iterative process of flipping suspect databits and checking to see if the flips correct the problem.

In certain embodiments using the ECC approach described above, theisolation module may use the audit bits to determine which data bits areof suspect validity. In certain embodiments, this information may beprovided to the isolation module. In response, the isolation module maystart the correction and replacement process at the suspect data bits asopposed to iteratively moving through the entire die. Such an approachmay significantly improve the speed with which the isolation modulecorrects the data.

In certain embodiments, the storage device 120 may reconfigure amulti-level memory cell to store only a single bit when the multi-levelmemory cell loses its ability to accurately store and differentiatebetween all of the levels that the multi-level memory cell wasoriginally designed to support (e.g., initiate a reduced level cellmode). For example, the storage device 120 may be configured to use themulti-level memory cells to store only a single bit (as described below)once the number of times the audit bit does not match the expected valueexceeds a threshold amount. In one embodiment, the storage device 120may configure the device to store a 1 at level L0, and a 0 at L3. Insuch a configuration, the storage device 120 may interpret data storedat either L3 or L2 as a 0, and data stored at either L0 or L1 to be a 1.In this manner, the life of the storage device 120 may be extended. Inaddition, this may improve data retention due to an increase in theguard band (e.g., separation distance) between the two valid, availablestates. In certain embodiments of such a configuration, only one of thetwo bits is given any value. For example, in FIG. 6, only the LSB may beread or written. The MSB (and the associated pages) may be retired andunused.

In certain embodiments, the LSB and MSB are programmed separately by thestorage device 120. Such an approach may be taken due to vendorrequirements for page pairing (i.e., a LSB bit of MLC cell is pairedwith an MSB bit of a different MLC cell) and page addressing (i.e., LSBpage must be programmed before the MSB page). In certain instances, theLSB must be written before the MSB is written. In such embodiments, thedelay associated with writing an audit bit to the MSB is at least fivetimes greater than the delay associated with writing data to the LSB. Insuch instances, embodiments of the present disclosure may write dataexclusively to the LSB. Such embodiments may write no data to the auditbit in the MSB. Instead, such embodiments may rely on the fact that themedia hardware controller 126 sets the expected value automatically aspart of the preparation of the media 122 for data storage (e.g., certainsolid-state storage devices such as NAND flash must be erased beforethey can be programmed).

In certain embodiments, the storage device 120 may employ a two-phaseprogramming model. In such a model, a logical value is first written tothe LSB by way of a first write command to the lower page 406. The writecommand causes the multi-level memory cell to move from its initialstate (for example, 11) to the state which changes the value of the LSBwithout changing the value of the MSB. For example, writing a “0” to thelower page 406 causes the multi-level memory cell to change from the L0state (where both the LSB and the MSB are 1) to the L2 state (where theLSB is changed to a 0, but the MSB remains a 1). A subsequent write of a“0” to the upper page 404 is needed to move the multi-level memory cellfrom the L2 state to the L3 state. Thus, in such an embodiment, twowrites (one to the lower page 406 and one to the upper page 404) areneeded to move the memory cell from L0 to L3. In addition, certainsolid-state media vendors may impose a requirement that the lower page406 must be written to before the upper page 404.

In such an embodiment, the storage device 120 may increase the guardband or separation distance between two states in the level memory cellby executing a first program phase to put the memory cell into anintermediate state, followed by a second program phase to put the cellinto a final state. For example, as noted above, to increase the guardband or separation distance, the storage device 120 may be configured toact as a single-level memory cell with a 1 stored at L0 and a 0 storedat L3. In such an embodiment, either the MSB or LSB may be used as thedata bit depending on the programming model. However, the cell willstore only a single bit of valid user/workload information. For example,in FIG. 6, the LSB may be the best candidate for the data bit since thevoltage can drift from L3 to L2 without a change in the LSB value, andthe voltage can drift up from L0 to L1 without a change in the LSBvalue. In such embodiments, the MSB, while theoretically stilladdressable and retrievable, may be deemed too unreliable to be used forany purpose and simply left unused, to store a predefined endurance datapattern or the like.

The storage device 120 may receive a write that requires that a 0 bewritten to the MSB of the multi-level memory cell, requiring that themulti-level memory cell change from a L0 to L3. The storage device 120may receive the write request, which may be directed to the upper page404, and cause two write requests to execute: a first write requestdirected to the lower page 406 which moves the multi-level memory cellfrom L0 to L2 (L2 acts as the intermediate state in this example); and asecond write request directed to the upper page 404 which changes themulti-level memory cell from the L2 intermediate state to L3, the finalstate. These operations may be hidden from a storage client 116requesting the write operation, and thus the process and associatedcomplexity is handled transparently in one such embodiment.

In certain embodiments, the states for the lower pages 406 are selectedsuch that a write to the lower page 406 sets both the data bit and theexpected value of the audit bit (in the upper page 404) withoutrequiring a separate write to the upper page 404. For example, in FIG.6, the two valid states are selected such that the value of the auditbit is always 1, unless there is undesired drift between states. As aresult, the audit bit may be set to match the expected audit bit valuewithout requiring a separate write to the upper page 404 containing theaudit bit.

In certain embodiments, it may be desirable to store data in the MSB andaudit data in the LSB. In certain embodiments, the delay experienced instoring data in the MSB may be greater, but the multi-level memory cellmay exhibit less tendency to have values in the MSB inadvertently shift.In addition, storing the data in the MSB may cause less wear on themulti-level memory cell for a programming operation. For example, inFIG. 6, using the MSB to store data may involve only L0 and L1 as validstates. Since L1 is a lower voltage, the multi-level memory cell mayexperience less wear and/or damage as it is used. When the ability ofthe storage device to reliably store data in the lower pages 406 iscompromised, the storage device 120 may dynamically reconfigure writeand read requests to store data in the MSB (and associated upper pages404) and rely on the inherent expected value (e.g., binary one) in theaudit data of the LSB (and associated lower pages 406) to accommodateidentification and correction of any future data bit errors.

FIG. 7 shows one embodiment of a system for storing information in astorage device 120 that includes one or more triple level memory cells402. In one embodiment, the system includes a driver 702, mapping logicmodule 704, hardware controller 706, and non-volatile memory media 122.In certain embodiments, these components are part of the storage device120.

In one embodiment, the driver 702 receives write requests and readrequests from one or more clients 116 directed at the non-volatilememory media 122. The requests typically include an address component,such as a page address, a logical block address, a filename and anoffset, or the like. In certain embodiments, neither the upper pages404, nor the middle pages 405, nor the lower pages 406 are exposed tothe storage client 116. Instead, the driver 702 presents a set oflogically contiguous block addresses, cluster identifiers, fileidentifiers, or object identifiers (referred to herein as logical blockaddresses) to the storage client 116. The capacity presented to thestorage client 116, in a reduced level cell mode, may be two-thirds ofthe actual physical storage capacity of the storage device 120 in a MLCreduced level cell mode for TLC memory media 122, may be one-half of theactual physical storage capacity of the storage device 120 in a SLCreduced level cell mode for MLC memory media 122, may be one-third ofthe actual physical storage capacity of the storage device 120 in a SLCreduced level cell mode for TLC memory media 122, or the like, assumingthe entire storage device 120 has been placed in a reduced level cellmode. The driver 702 may convert the logical block address to one ormore physical media page addresses. The driver 702 receives clientrequests, and passes the request and one or more physical media pageaddresses to the mapping logic 704.

The mapping logic module 704 may be software, hardware, or a combinationthereof. In one embodiment, the physical media page addresses arecontiguous and the mapping logic maps the physical media page addressesto an appropriate lower page 406, middle page 405, or upper page 404based on the current operation mode of the storage device 120 and thewear condition of the triple level memory cells 402 of the storagedevice 120. In another embodiment, the driver 702 maps the logical blockaddress directly to the appropriate address for the physical lower page406.

The mapping logic module 704 may be software, hardware, or a combinationthereof. In one embodiment, the mapping logic module 704 maps thephysical page address to a page tuple of the storage device 120. Asexplained above, the page tuple may include a lower page 406 that isassociated with the LSBs of the triple level memory cells 402 in thenon-volatile memory media 122, a middle page 405 that is associated withthe CSBs of the triple level memory cell 402, and an upper page 404 thatis associated with the MSBs of the triple level memory cells 402. Themapping logic module 704 further sets the physical address for storingdata associated with the write command received from the storage client116 to the lower pages 406 and/or the middle pages 405 of the pagetuples affected by the write command in the reduced level cell mode. Theupper pages 404 for each lower page 406 and/or middle page 405 mayremain unchanged. Consequently, because the solid-state media 122 mustbe erased prior to being programmed or written to the upper pages 404for each corresponding lower page 406 and/or middle page 405 in use mayin turn be used for audit data (e.g., holding the expected value).

For example, in one embodiment, the driver 702 may receive a requestthat data be written to LBAs one through three on the storage device120. The driver 702 converts the LBA identifiers to contiguous pages onethrough three. The mapping logic module 704 may receive that convertedrequest and determine that page one is a lower page 406 that can storedata, that page two is a middle page 405 that can store data, and thatpage three is an upper page 404 that stores audit data and is not usedfor writing data. In response, due to page pairing, the mapping logicmodule 704 may remap the write request such that the data is written tolower page one, middle page two, and lower page four. Upper pages threeand six may hold audit data for lower page one, middle page two, andlower page four. For example, pages one, two, and three may be a pagetuple, pages four, five, and six a page tuple, or the like.

In this embodiment, the write requests are mapped appropriately toensure that data is written only to the lower pages 406 and middle pages405, and the mapping is hidden from the storage client 116 and, incertain embodiments, from the driver 702 as well. Appropriate updatesare made to indexes to ensure that reads and other requests for theuser/workload data from clients 116 are routed to the correct physicaladdresses and/or offsets where that data is stored.

The hardware controller 706 receives the remapped write and/or readrequests from the mapping logic module 704 and executes them such thatthe data is stored on the non-volatile memory media 122 as directed bythe instructions given by the mapping logic module 704. The hardwarecontroller 706 may be hardware, firmware, software, or a combinationthereof. In certain embodiments, the hardware controller 706 maycomprise a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a processor, or anapplication specific integrated circuit (ASIC).

FIG. 8 shows one embodiment of a method for using audit bits in upperpages 404 to facilitate correcting errors in the data bits in lowerpages 406. The method steps do not need to occur in the order shown. Themethod 800 begins with reading 802 data bits in an ECC chunk in a firstread operation. As described above, the ECC chunk may be stored in thelower pages of page pairs in the storage device 120. The method may alsoinclude validating 804 the data bits using the ECC. If there is no errordetected 806, or if the number of errors can be corrected using the ECC,the method 300 ends and the data is returned to the requesting entity.

If there is an error that cannot be corrected using the ECC, the methodincludes initiating 808 a second read of audit bits that are associatedwith the data bits that were read in the first read operation. In oneembodiment, these audit bits are those that are stored in the upperpages 404 of the page pair. Because the audit bits of the upper pages404 share the same physical triple level memory cell as the lower pages,changes to the data bits in the lower pages are also reflected in theaudit bits of the upper pages 404. The method then finds 310 those auditbits that do not match the expected values for the audit bits, andreporting 812 the data bits that are associated with audit bits that donot match the expected value as having suspect validity.

In response, the method 800 may further include flipping the data bitsthat have suspect validity and rechecking the data bits using the ECCchunk. The method 800 may also include indicating that the reliabilityof one or more of the triple level memory cells 402 that make up the ECCchunk is suspect.

While many embodiments are described herein, at least some of thedescribed embodiments implement a single-level cell (SLC) mode within amulti-level cell (MLC) memory device. The SLC mode restricts the numberof programming states to which each non-volatile memory cell may beprogrammed. In a specific embodiment, the SLC mode restricts eachnon-volatile memory cell to be programmed in either an erase state or astate which is closest to a natural threshold voltage of thenon-volatile memory cell.

FIG. 9A illustrates a graphical diagram 10 of various programming statesof a programming or encoding model that may be used in conjunction witha MLC mode. Each programming state includes a range of voltages, whichcorrespond to the horizontal axis. The vertical axis corresponds to zerovolts. Voltages to the left are negative voltages, and voltages to theright are positive voltages. Other conventions may be used to designatethe voltages.

The natural threshold voltage, Vth, of the memory element is alsoidentified. The natural threshold voltage of the memory element refersto a specific or approximate voltage level of the floating gate withinthe memory element. The natural threshold voltage is the voltage readfrom a newly manufactured memory element prior to executing an initialerase operation or write operation on the memory element. In this newlymanufactured state there are no electrons on the floating gate of thememory element besides those that naturally exist in the floating gatematerial. In some embodiments, the natural threshold voltage is about0.5V and can range between about 0.1V and about 0.6V, although otherembodiments may have a different natural threshold voltage. The naturalthreshold voltage generally correlates with a value approximately atwhich an inversion layer is formed in the substrate of the memoryelement. For example, if the natural threshold voltage is about 0.5V,then the inversion layer may be formed having a gate bias of at 0.6V orhigher voltages.

The programming states include four designated programming states ERASE(e.g., L0), A (e.g., L1), B (e.g., L2), and C (e.g., L3), (shown withsolid lines) and one intermediate state, LM, (shown with dashed lines).The solid lines represent a statistical distribution of voltages for aset of cells of a given state once a programming operation is completed.Solid lines for ERASE, A, B, and C states represent the possible statescells can take on when multiple bits of a MLC cell are programmed. Inthe illustrated example, the statistical distribution of voltagescorresponding to the ERASE state spans from about −2.25V to about −1.5V.The statistical distribution of voltages corresponding to each of theother programming states span a range of about 0.5V-state A spans fromabout 0.5V to about 1.0V; state B spans from about 1.85V to about 2.35V;and state C spans from about 3.5V to about 4.0V. In other embodiments,the spans may be different and may start or end at different voltages.

The intermediate state also may be referred to as the low to middle (LM)state because it is between the state A and the state B. In theillustrated embodiment, the intermediate LM state spans from about 0.7Vto about 1.6V, although other embodiments may use other statisticaldistribution of voltages for the intermediate LM state.

The term “designated programming states” is used herein to refer to thegroup of all states which are available for programming based on amanufacturer's design and implementation. For example, FIG. 9A includesat least four designated programming states or abodes (ERASE, A, B, andC), each of which is operational to maintain a programming statecorresponding to a value for a bit (or values for multiple bits) ofdata. For TLC memory cells, eight designated programming states orabodes may be available. In some embodiments, an LM state serves as afifth designated programming state, for maintaining a programming statecorresponding to one or more bit values.

In the illustrated embodiment, the designated programming states ERASEand A-C represent bit combinations 11, 01, 00, and 10 (from the lowestvoltage range to the highest voltage range). In this convention, theleft bit is the most significant bit (MSB), and the right bit is theleast significant bit (LSB). The intermediate state is designated as 10in the intermediate LM state to indicate that the LSB is set to zero,but the MSB is not yet set to a specific bit value.

In operation, the designated programming state that represents the bitcombination 11 is also designated as the erase state. When thenon-volatile memory cells are erased, by default each non-volatilememory cell is returned to the erase state, which represents the bitcombination 11. In order to program the non-volatile memory cell, thenon-volatile memory cell is either left in the default erase state (torepresent a logical 0) or programmed to the intermediate LM state (torepresent a logical 1).

Once the LSB is programmed, then the MSB may be programmed. If the LSBis 1 and the MSB is supposed to be 1, then the non-volatile memory cellis maintained in the erase state, because the erase state corresponds tothe bit combination 11. If the LSB is 1 and the MSB is supposed to be 0,then the non-volatile memory cell is programmed to the state Acorresponding to 01. If the LSB is programmed to 0, and the MSB issupposed to be 0, then the non-volatile memory cell is programmed to thestate B corresponding to 00. If the LSB is programmed to 0, and the MSBis supposed to be 1, then the non-volatile memory cell is programmed tothe state C corresponding to 10. This is just one example of bitcombinations that may be assigned to the various programming states,according to a Gray code programming model or encoding. Otherembodiments may use other bit combinations assigned to the variousprogramming states.

The non-volatile memory cell is programmed in two or more phases.Programming the LSB is a first phase that places the non-volatile memorycell in the erase state or the LM state. If all the pages of thenon-volatile memory cell are programmed using the multi-phaseprogramming model, then certain cells may be programmed to transitionfrom the LM state to either state B or state C, other cells may beprogrammed to transition from the erase state to state A, depending onthe values that are programmed. This may be referred to as two-phaseprogramming, because the programming is performed to the intermediate LMstate in a first phase and then programmed to one of the states B or Cin a second phase.

The intermediate LM state is used to program pages of the non-volatilememory cell that use the LSB. Using an intermediate LM state allowspages using the LSB to be programmed while pages that use the MSB arenot programmed and allows the state of a cell to take one of the statesErase, A, B, or C when two or more pages that include the cell areprogrammed. In contrast, if pages for the MSB of the non-volatile memorycell are programmed then only states Erase and state A are used, as aresult the intermediate LM state is not used.

FIG. 9B illustrates a graphical diagram 20 of programming states of oneembodiment of a programming model which uses the LSB for the SLC mode.In this programming model, the value of the MSB may be irrelevant. Thenon-volatile memory cell may be programmed to the erase state torepresent a bit value of 1, or to the intermediate LM state or either ofthe states B or C above (i.e., to the right of) the intermediate LMstate to represent a bit value of 0. Since the programming modelillustrated in FIG. 9B only uses a subset of the designated programmingstates for representing bit values, these programming states arereferred to herein as “restricted programming states.” In general,restricted programming states include some, but not all, (i.e., anexclusive subset) of the designated programming states. In contrast, inthis embodiment, the A, B, and C states of FIG. 9A are not used for anybit value representations, so the A, B and C states are not designatedas restricted programming states.

Referring back to FIG. 9A, in one embodiment, the restricted programmingstates comprise states ERASE and C. Such an embodiment may beadvantageous where the storage media is a non-volatile storage mediathat does not have a natural threshold voltage such as a phase changememory and the like. In such an embodiment, use of states separated suchas ERASE and C allow for more variation in the distribution of cellsthat are in each of the states.

FIG. 9C illustrates a graphical diagram 30 of programming states of oneembodiment of a programming or encoding model which uses the MSB tostore user/workload data for a SLC reduced level cell mode, in contrastto FIG. 6 described above, which used the LSB to store user/workloaddata in a SLC reduced level cell mode. In this programming model, thevalue of the LSB remains 1. The non-volatile memory cell may beprogrammed to the erase state to represent a bit value of 1 (a logical“0”), or to the state A to represent a bit value of 0 (a logical “1”).For reference, the state A represents the state that is closest to thethreshold voltage Vth of the non-volatile memory cell. Also, since theprogramming model illustrated in FIG. 9C only uses a subset (i.e., ERASEand A states) of the designated programming states for representing bitvalues, these programming states are referred to herein as “restrictedprogramming states.”

In some embodiments, by utilizing the state that is closest to thethreshold voltage Vth of the non-volatile memory cell for the SLC mode,the accuracy of the MLC device is maintained longer compared with usingthe MLC device in a MLC mode or using the MLC device in the SLC modebased on programming only pages that use the LSB. In this way, thelongevity of the MLC device can be extended, because there is lessprogramming voltage used to program the non-volatile memory cells to thelower voltage programming state.

Additionally, in some embodiments it is relatively unlikely that thenon-volatile memory cell might get overprogrammed relative to state A.In fact, even if the non-volatile memory cell is overprogrammed relativeto state A, the value of the MSB does not necessarily change between thestates A and B, using the convention shown in FIG. 9C.

Also, in certain embodiments, this approach using the MSB state for theSLC mode may take about the same amount of time to program thenon-volatile memory cell than using only the LSB state. Reading fromnon-volatile memory cell that have only the MSB state programmed maytake a little longer since the non-volatile memory cell may perform twoor more reads to verify that the cell voltage is within the erase stateor the A state. Additionally, this approach results in the creation ofless electron trapping sites within the gate of the non-volatile memorycells due to the lower programming voltage applied, which contributes tothe longevity of the non-volatile memory cells. In some embodiments,using the MSB only in NAND MLC reduces the amount of trapping chargesdue to program/erase (P/E) cycling by lowering the voltage swing. Ifthere are less trapped charges and/or trap sites, then there is lowtrap-assisted tunneling and path through a string of traps.Consequently, this also makes it less likely that the non-volatilememory cell might be overprogrammed relative to state A. Moreover, thereis very little voltage (Vt) drift of state A because the Vt level ofstate A is relatively close to the natural Vt level of the non-volatilememory cell. This possibility of overprogramming typically increaseswith the age of the MLC device.

Typically in a MLC flash memory element, the number of electrons storedwithin a floating gate indicates a voltage differential that can bemeasured. The number of discrete levels that can be accuratelydetermined is dependent upon the total number of electrons that can bestored and the maximum variation in number of electrons that can becontrolled. Similarly, in a MLC phase-change memory element, thecrystalline or amorphous nature of the memory element can be determined,and the number of discrete levels that can be accurately determineddepends on the number of intermediate states that can be implementedbetween the crystalline and amorphous states. While any number of levelsmay be implemented, regardless of the specific technology used toimplement the non-volatile memory cells, many non-volatile memory cellshave four levels representing two bits of information. The encoding ofthese levels to the bit values they represent may use a Gray code orother encoding mechanisms.

The two bits of a MLC, while sharing the same physical memory cell, maynot be contiguous in a logical address space. In many cases, the bitsare in different pages. However, the lower order addresses for the bitsare frequently the same. Also, the bits of a single memory element aretypically (but not always) within the same erase blocks. An erase blockis a block of storage that is erased in bulk during an erase operation.The possible variations that might be implemented in differentembodiments in terms of logical addresses, pages, erase blocks and soforth, may affect the operation of the device, but do not necessarilyalter the fundamental concepts described herein for using a MLC devicein a SLC mode.

FIG. 10A is a schematic block diagram illustrating one embodiment of anarray 600 of N number of storage elements 606. In the depictedembodiment, an ECC chunk 616 includes data 612 from several storageelements 606. In a further embodiment, ECC checkbits for the ECC chunk616 are also stored across several storage elements 606.

The array 600 of storage elements 606, in one embodiment, includes Nnumber of storage elements 606 a, 606 b, 606 c, . . . 606 n. Eachstorage element 606 may comprise a device, a chip, a portion of a chip,a die, a plane in a die, or the like. In the depicted embodiment, thestorage elements 606 a-n form a bank 602 a. The array 600, in oneembodiment, includes several banks 602 a . . . 602 m. The banks 602 a-m,in the depicted embodiment, include several channels 604 a, 604 b, 604c, . . . , 604 n. In one embodiment, a packet or data set is writtenacross the several channels 604 a-n and data is read separately fromeach channel 604 a-n and reassembled into the packet. In anotherembodiment, an ECC chunk 616, packet, or data set is written across theseveral channels 604 a-n and data is read in parallel from all thechannels 604 a-n. One read operation on a bank 602 a may read a wholeECC chunk 616, packet, or data set or a portion of an ECC chunk 616,packet, or data set that is reassembled into a whole ECC chunk 616,packet, or data set. In the depicted embodiment, each channel includesat least one storage element 606 in each bank 602.

Furthermore, in one embodiment each storage element 606 includes aphysical erase block or “PEB” 608. For example, storage element one 606a includes PEB one 608 a. A physical erase block is typically an eraseblock located on one die, chip, or other storage element 606. Each PEB608 includes m physical pages 610. For example, PEB one 608 a includespage 0 610 a . . . page m 614 a. Each physical page 610 a stores aportion of data (“D0, D1, . . . , D m”) 612 and ECC checkbitsdistributed with the data 612. As described above, several pages 610 ofthe same storage element 606, the same PEB 608, or the like may sharethe same, common set of memory cells. For example, three pages 610 maybe stored or encoded by abodes or program states of the same, common setof TLC memory cells.

In one embodiment, a group of PEBs (PEB 1 608 a-PEB m 608 m) forms alogical erase block (“LEB”). An LEB may span the array of N storageelements 600. In certain embodiments, an LEB is sized to fit within abank 602 a-m, with one PEB 608 a-m from each storage element 606 a-n orthe like. In other embodiments, a LEB may span different banks 602 a-mand may include one or more PEBs 608 a-m from multiple banks 602 a-m.Furthermore, in an embodiment, a logical page (“LP”) spans a pluralityof physical pages 610 in a row. In another embodiment a logical pagespans N storage elements 606 a-n.

In one embodiment, the ECC is a block code that is distributed with thedata. Furthermore, the data and the ECC may not align with anyparticular physical hardware boundary. As a result, error correctionwith the ECC codes is not dependent on a particular hardwareconfiguration. Therefore, the ECC and corresponding data may form an ECCchunk 616 and the ECC chunk 616 may be divided and stored on one or moreof the N storage elements 606 a-n. An ECC chunk 616 typically spans atleast a portion of a plurality of physical pages 610 of a logical pagewhere the data and ECC generated from the data 612 a, 612 b, . . . 612 mare spread across the N storage elements 606 a-n. In one embodiment, aLP includes a plurality of ECC chunks 616. A physical page 610 maycontain one or more data bytes of the ECC chunk 616. An ECC chunk 616may span multiple rows within a physical page 610 and a physical page610 may include a plurality of ECC chunks 616.

Because, in the depicted embodiment, the ECC checkbits for the ECC chunk616 are distributed across several storage elements 606 a-n and channels604 a-n, when a data error occurs due to a read voltage shift in one ormore of the storage elements 606 a-n, an ECC module or decoder may notbe able to determine which storage elements 606 have an error that iscorrectable using audit bits of a predefined endurance data pattern. Inone embodiment, the endurance module 206 determines which storageelements 606 or channels 604 have data bits that do not match anexpected audit bit, to facilitate error correction by an ECC decoder orthe like.

In one embodiment, the endurance module 206 and/or an ECC module ordecoder determines that a data set has an error or an audit bit thatdeviates from a known or expected value, and the endurance module 206determines from which storage element 606 the data set was read. Forexample, in one embodiment, the array 600 may have 24 channels 604, and8 bytes may be read in parallel from 24 storage elements 606 of a singlebank 602 during a read operation for a total of 192 bytes per readoperation. Based on this information, the endurance module 206, in oneembodiment, can determine from which storage element 606 a data set wasread based on the position of an 8 byte data set within the 192 bytes.In one embodiment, the 192 bytes comprise the ECC chunk 616.

FIG. 10B is a schematic block diagram illustrating one embodiment of anarray 650 of N storage elements 606. The array 650, in the depictedembodiment, is substantially similar to the array 600 of FIG. 10A, butwith the ECC chunk 652 including data 612 a in a single storage element606 a, instead of across several storage elements 606 a-n. In oneembodiment, ECC checkbits for the ECC chunk 652 are stored in the singlestorage element 606 a. Because each storage element 606 a-n or channel604 a-n has separate ECC checkbits, in one embodiment, an ECC module ordecoder uses the separate ECC checkbits to determine in which storageelements 606 a-n or channels 604 a-n an error has occurred, and maycooperate with the endurance module 206 to use audit data as an extralayer of error protection should the ECC checkbits fail due to moreerrors than are correctable using the ECC checkbits alone.

FIG. 11A depicts a graph 500 of programming states or abodes for TLCmemory cells of a non-volatile memory device 120. In the depictedembodiment, the non-volatile memory device 120 may be, for example, aTLC NAND flash memory device, and each cell has eight states, butvarious types of memory and numbers of states per cell may be used inother embodiments. In the depicted embodiment the data-encoding physicalvalue of each cell is the read voltage level. The read voltage level, asused herein, refers to a voltage which causes the channel of a floatinggate transistor conductive when a read voltage threshold (“Vt”) isapplied to the control gate. Data is stored in each cell by changing theamount of stored charge in the floating gate, which determines the readvoltage level.

In the depicted embodiment, read voltage thresholds 510 a-g divide therange of possible read voltage levels for a cell into states L0, L1, L2,L3, L4, L5, L6, and L7, where L0 is the erased state. In someembodiments, the erased state L0 may correspond to a negative readvoltage level. If the read voltage level for a cell is below readvoltage threshold 510 a, the cell is in the L0 state. If the thresholdvoltage Vt for a cell is above read voltage threshold 510 a, but belowread voltage threshold 510 b, the cell is in the L1 state, and so on. Inresponse to a cell being programmed (or erased), the state of the cellmay be determined by applying a verify threshold voltage 520 a-g to thecontrol gate, and sensing if the cell conducts, to determine if the readvoltage level is above or below the applied verify threshold voltage 520a-g. By using different voltage thresholds for the read voltagethresholds 510 a-g and the verify threshold voltages 520 a-g, thethreshold module 216 forms guard bands 530 a-g or separation distancesbetween the cell states.

Although the graph 500 depicts a uniform distribution of cells among thestates L0-L7, a bell-shaped distribution of read voltage levels isdepicted in each state, because each cell in a particular state may havea different read voltage level within the range of read voltage levelsfor the state, read voltage levels may drift over time, or the like.Variations in the cells and in the programming process may causevariations in the read voltage levels when the cells are programmed.Also, the read voltage level of a cell may drift from its originallyprogrammed voltage over time due to read disturbs, program disturbs,stress-induced leakage current, or the like. Although a symmetricbell-shaped distribution is shown, skewed distributions and otherdistributions are possible. Over time, the distributions may widen orskew as cells drift from their originally programmed read voltagelevels, and such effects may increase over time with age.

If the distribution widens beyond the nearest read voltage threshold 510a-g, then some cells have drifted into an adjacent state, causingerrors. In order to reduce this effect, the states L0-L7 are separatedby guard bands 530 a-g of a predefined separation distance. As describedabove, a guard band or separation distance comprises a range of adata-encoding physical property of a cell, such as a read voltage levelor the like, which separates states of the cell. In the depictedembodiment, the guard bands are created when the cells are programmed,by verifying that each cell is programmed with a read voltage levelabove at least a verify voltage 520 a-g, which is above or greater thanthe read voltage threshold Vt 510 a-g, which defines the lower edge ofthe state. Thus, in the depicted embodiment, the first guard band 530 aincludes the voltage range 530 a between read voltage threshold 510 aand verify voltage threshold 520 a, the second guard band is the voltagerange 530 b between read voltage threshold 510 b and verify voltagethreshold 520 b, and so on.

In various embodiments, the states may be different distances fromadjacent states, and the guard bands 530 a-g may have different widthsor sizes. For example, in the depicted embodiment, the separation 530 abetween the L0 and L1 states is greater than the separation 530 b-gbetween other adjacent states, and the guard band 530 a between L0 andL1 is correspondingly wider. Also, in the depicted embodiment, the readvoltage thresholds 510 b-g are at the midpoint between the most likelyvoltages for adjacent states, but in another embodiment, the readvoltage thresholds 510 may be lower, and closer to the edge of thedistribution of cells for the lower states, thus widening the guardbands and increasing the separation distances. Other arrangements ofstates, guard bands 530 a-g, read voltage thresholds 510 a-g, and verifyvoltage thresholds 520 a-g are possible, and may be managed and adjustedby the threshold module 216 to increase separation distances for areduced level cell mode.

FIG. 11B depicts a table 550 illustrating one example encoding for thestates L0-L7 of FIG. 11A. Because each cell in the depicted embodimentmay be in one of eight different states, each cell encodes threedifferent bits. The first bit is referred to as the most significant bit(“MSB”), the second bit is referred to as the central significant bit(“CSB”), and the third bit is referred to as the least significant bit(“LSB”). In the depicted embodiment, the encoding is a Gray codeencoding, in which only one bit changes between adjacent states. Inother embodiments, other encodings may be used.

In one embodiment, the level of reliability for a bit of a cell may bebased on a number of transitions for the bit between adjacent states inan encoding of the cell. A transition 552 for a bit occurs betweenadjacent states if the value of the bit changes between those states. Inthe depicted encoding, it may be seen that the LSB has one transition552, between the L3 and L4 states. The CSB has two transitions 552,between the L1 and L2 states and between the L5 and L6 states, and theMSB has four transitions 552. Because most errors occur between adjacentstates, in certain embodiments, a bit experiences a higher risk of errorin states near a transition 552 for that bit. Thus, because the LSB hasone transition 552, in the depicted embodiment, the LSB provides areliability level that is higher than provided by the CSB and the MSB.The CSB, with two transitions 552 in the depicted embodiment, provides areliability level between the reliability levels provided by the LSB andthe MSB. The MSB, with four transitions 552 in the depicted embodiment,provides a lower reliability level than those provided by the LSB andthe CSB. For this reason, in certain embodiments, for the depictedencoding 550 or similar encodings, as the memory device 120 ages andmemory cells experience more errors or the like, the trigger module 202may first initiate a MLC reduced level cell mode that uses the CSB andLSB to store user/workload data (e.g., taking the least reliable MSB outof service), and may later initiate a SLC reduced level cell mode thatuses just the LSB to store user/workload data (e.g., using just the mostreliable LSB).

In another embodiment, the level of reliability for a bit of a cell maybe based on and/or correlated to a size of a guard band 530 a-g orseparation distance between adjacent states, such as states with atransition 552 for the bit in an encoding of the cell. For example, inthe depicted embodiment, the reliability level for the LSB may beincreased by widening the guard band 530 d at the transition 552 betweenthe L3 and L4 states. Widening the guard band at one transition 552 mayinvolve shifting the states and narrowing other guard bands, mergingstates, masking states, invalidating states, or the like, thus alsoaffecting the reliability levels of other bits, such as the MSB and CSB.

For example, as described above, the endurance module 206, in certainembodiments, may use the pattern module 214 to program a predefinedendurance data pattern of binary ones to the MSBs of a set of memorycells which, per the depicted encoding 550, limits the available statesor abodes to L0, L3, L4, and L7. The endurance module 206, in oneembodiment, may use the threshold module 216, as described above, toprovide a greater separation distance between the L3 and L4 abodes,increasing the guard band 530 d and decreasing other guard bands 530 orstates, such as the unused, unavailable L2 and L5 states, or the like.

FIG. 12 shows one embodiment of boundary thresholds 662 a-g for a set oftriple level memory cells, such as MLC NAND flash storage cells, TLCNAND flash storage cells, or the like, with an example encoding orprogramming model. Any limitations inherent in the represented encodingmodel do not necessarily apply to all other encoding models, and thepresent disclosure should not be construed as inherently containing anysuch limitations. The abodes or program states, in the depictedembodiment, are encoded using a Gray code encoding model, with binaryvalues for adjacent states differing by a single bit in the encoding.The depicted encoding of FIG. 12, may be one embodiment of programmingstages used to program lower/LSB, middle/CSB, and upper/MSB pages usingthe encoding 550 and states 500 described above with regard to FIGS. 11Aand 11B.

In the depicted embodiment, stage 1 comprises a program operation forthe lower/LSB page, with a binary one for the lower/LSB page placing thememory cell into the L0 state or abode and a binary zero for thelower/LSB page placing the memory cell into the L1 state or abode. Stage2 comprises a program operation for the middle/CSB page where, dependingon the value of the lower/LSB bit programmed in stage 1 and the value ofthe middle/CSB bit being programmed, the memory cell may have one offour possible states or abodes. Stage 3 comprises a program operationfor the upper/MSB page including eight possible states or abodes,depending on the values of the lower/LSB page programmed in stage 1, ofthe middle/CSB page programmed in stage 2, and of the upper/MSB pagebeing programmed in stage 3.

The stages, numbers of states or abodes per stage, and associatedencoding may be specific to certain architectures, types, makes, ormodels of non-volatile memory media 122. In certain embodiments, one ormore different architectures of non-volatile memory media 122 may usethe same, common, predefined encoding as depicted in FIG. 12 (e.g., Graycode; L0=111, L1=011, L2=001, L3=101, L4=100, L5=000, L6=010, L7=110; orthe like). For example, instead of progressing from two abodes (SLCmode), to four abodes (MLC mode), to eight abodes (TLC mode) insequential stages as depicted, other architectures may use a first stagewith two abodes and progress to second and third stages each with eightabodes, simply narrowing or refining a size or width of the abodes inthe third stage. Other architectures may include eight abodes in each ofthe three stages, or the like.

Regardless of the arrangement and number of abodes or program statesthrough the various programming stages, the different architectures mayuse a common, predefined encoding to map abodes or program states todata values. As described above, based on the common, predefinedencoding, in certain embodiments, the endurance module 206 may use asimilar predefined endurance pattern, similar abode or program stateadjustments, or the like for non-volatile memory media 122 withdifferent architectures. By providing a reduced level cell mode at anencoding level, the non-volatile memory device 120, the non-volatilememory media controller 126, and/or the non-volatile memory media 122may continue normal operation with little or no modification, with eightabodes or program states or the like, substantially unaware that theendurance module 206 is using a predefined endurance data pattern tomask certain abodes or program states such that they become unavailableor unused for storing/encoding valid user/workload data.

As described above, the endurance module 206 may take advantage of acommon, predefined encoding (either the depicted gray code encoding or adifferent predefined encoding) to provide a vendor/manufacturer agnosticreduced level cell mode, with an increased separation distance betweenabodes or program states. For example, in an embodiments where theendurance module 206 and/or the pattern module 214 use an XNOR logicalequality operation to determine a predefined endurance data pattern,with the depicted encoding, programming the data pattern to theupper/MSB page during stage 3 defines, determines, or selects abodes L0,L2, L4, and L6 as the states available or used to encode/store theuser/workload data of the lower/LSB and middle/CSB pages. Based on thedepicted encoding, abodes L1, L3, L5, and L7 would be unavailable orunused to encode/store the user/workload data of the lower/LSB andmiddle/CSB pages. This is true for the depicted encoding, because anXNOR for the lower/LSB and middle/CSB data bits results in the upper/MSBbits encoded by abodes L0, L2, L4, and L6 and does not result in theupper/MSB bits encoded by abodes L1, L3, L5, and L7. For otherencodings, a different operation other than XNOR may yield similarresults, and the endurance module 206 and/or pattern module 214 may usedifferent operation, a different predefined endurance data pattern, orthe like to take advantage of the other encoding to optimally separateabodes or program states for the other encodings.

In another embodiment, for the depicted encoding, the endurance module206 and/or the pattern module 214 may program a predefined endurancedata pattern consisting exclusively of all binary ones to the upper/MSBpage, to separate the abodes or program states that are available foruse encoding/storing the user/workload data stored in the lower/LSB andmiddle/CSB pages. For the depicted encoding, programming the upper/MSBpage with binary ones defines, determines, or selects abodes L0, L3, L4,and L7 as the abodes or program states available or used to encode/storethe user/workload data of the lower/LSB and middle/CSB pages, becausethe MSB is a binary one for those abodes. For the same reason,programming the upper/MSB page determines, defines, or masks abodes L1,L2, L5, and L6 as unavailable or unused for encoding/storing theuser/workload data of the lower/LSB and middle/CSB pages, because theMSB is a binary zero for those abodes. By programming a predefinedendurance data pattern to the upper/MSB page of a set of memory cells,the endurance module 206 and/or the pattern module 214, in certainembodiments, may define, determine, and/or select which abodes orprogram states are used or available for storing/encoding data of thelower/LSB and middle/CSB pages, based on the predefined encoding usedfor the memory cells, in a manner that does not change or modify thepredefined encoding.

In other embodiments, for certain architectures, the endurance module206 may simply stop programming after stage 2, with its four abodes orprogramming states, to provide a reduced level cell mode. However,certain architectures may require that all three stages be completed.

In a further embodiment, the endurance module 206 and/or the thresholdmodule 216 may adjust, move, or set one or more boundary thresholds 662between the abodes or program states to provide a reduced level cellmode as described above. For example, instead of or in addition to usinga predefined endurance data pattern, the endurance module 206 and/or thethreshold module 216 may adjust or move boundary thresholds 662 toshrink or remove certain abodes, to merge or combine different abodes,or the like, thereby defining, determining, or selecting which abodes orprogram states are available or used for storing/encoding theuser/workload data of the lower/LSB and middle/CSB pages. For example,in the depicted embodiment, the endurance module 206 and/or thethreshold module 216 may merge abodes L0 and L1, merge abodes L2 and L3,merge abodes L4 and L5, and merge abodes L6 and L7 to provide a reducedlevel cell mode in stage 3 that is substantially similar to stage 2, butwith each of the three stages being performed (e.g., a virtual reducedlevel cell mode). In a further example embodiment, the endurance module206 and/or the threshold module 216 may widen a guard band 530 d betweenabodes L3 and L4, widen abodes L3 and L4 by moving the boundarythresholds 662 c, 662 e, or the like to increase a separation distancebetween abodes L3 and L4 in embodiments where the endurance module 206and/or the pattern module 214 use a predefined endurance data pattern ofbinary ones, leaving abodes L3 and L4 both available and adjacent. Incertain embodiments, the endurance module 206 may adjust boundarythresholds 662, such as program verify thresholds, read voltagethresholds, and the like and/or may program a predefined endurance datapattern to the upper/MSB page, to provide a reduced level cell mode thatis specific to and takes advantage of an encoding for the underlying setof memory cells.

FIG. 13 depicts one embodiment of a method 1300 for a reduced level cellmode. The method 1300 begins and the trigger module 202 determines 1302whether to initiate a reduced level cell (RLC) mode for a region or setof non-volatile memory cells, based on whether an endurancecharacteristic such as an error rate satisfies an endurance thresholdsuch as an error threshold. If the trigger module 202 determines 1302that the non-volatile memory cells are not to operate in the reducedlevel cell mode, the program module 204 programs 1308 each of the threepages (e.g., first/lower page, second/middle page, third/upper page)with user/workload data and the method 1300 ends.

If the trigger module 202 determines 1302 that the non-volatile memorycells are to operate in the reduced level cell mode, the program module204 programs 1304 a first/lower page and a second/middle page of thecells with user/workload data and programs 1306, in cooperation with theendurance module 206 and/or the pattern module 214, a third/upper pagewith a predefined endurance data pattern, the programming 1304 thereofselected to define a subset of the abodes or program states of the setof memory cells for encoding the programmed 1304 user/workload data, andthe method 1300 ends.

FIG. 15 is a schematic flow chart diagram illustrating a furtherembodiment of a method 1500 for a reduced level cell mode. The method1500 begins, in response to an erase block being erased as part of astorage capacity recovery operation, or the like, and the trigger module202 determines 1502, for the erase block, whether an endurancecharacteristic such as an error rate satisfies an endurance thresholdsuch as an error threshold. If the trigger module 202 determines 1502that the endurance threshold is not satisfied, the program module 204programs 1408 each of three pages (e.g., first/lower page, second/middlepage, third/upper page associated with the same set of storage cells) ofthe erase block with user/workload data and the trigger module 202continues to monitor 1502 the endurance characteristic for the eraseblock.

If the trigger module 202 determines 1502 that the endurance thresholdhas been satisfied, the trigger module 202 designates the erase block tooperate 1506 in a MLC reduced level cell mode, with two bits per memorycell. The program module 204 programs 1508 a first/lower page and asecond/middle page of the erase block with user/workload data. Theendurance module 206, using the pattern module 214 and/or the thresholdmodule 216 separates 1510 available abodes of the storage cells of theerase block that are available for use encoding the programmed 1508data, which may include four abodes in the MLC reduced level cell mode.For example, the pattern module 214 may cause a predefined endurancedata pattern to be written to a third/upper page to separate 1510 theavailable abodes, the threshold module 216 may adjust one or moreboundaries or thresholds of the available abodes to separate 1510 theavailable abodes, or the like.

The trigger module 202 determines 1512, for the erase block, whether anendurance characteristic satisfies an endurance threshold while theerase block is operating 1506 in the MLC reduced level cell mode, inresponse to the erase block being erased or the like. If the triggermodule 202 determines 1512 that the endurance threshold is notsatisfied, the erase block continues to operate 1506 in the MLC reducedlevel cell mode. If the trigger module 202 determines 1512, duringoperation in the MLC reduced level cell mode, that the endurancethreshold has been satisfied, the trigger module 202 designates theerase block to operate 1514 in a SLC reduced level cell mode, with onebit per memory cell.

The program module 204 programs 1516 a first/lower page of the eraseblock with user/workload data. The endurance module 206, using thepattern module 214 and/or the threshold module 216, separates 1518available abodes of the storage cells of the erase block that areavailable for use encoding the programmed 1516 data, which may includetwo abodes in the SLC reduced level cell mode. For example, the patternmodule 214 may cause a predefined endurance data pattern to be writtento a third/upper page to separate 1518 the available abodes, thethreshold module 216 may adjust one or more boundaries or thresholds ofthe available abodes to separate 1518 the available abodes, or the like.

The trigger module 202, in response to the erase block being erased orthe like, determines 1520 whether an endurance characteristic for theerase block satisfies a retirement endurance threshold, during operationin the SLC reduced level cell mode. If the trigger module 202 determines1520 that the retirement endurance threshold has not been met, the eraseblock continues to operate 1514 in the SLC reduced level cell mode, withone bit per cell. If the trigger module 202 determines 1520 that theretirement endurance threshold has been met, the retirement module 210retires 1522 the erase block from storing data and the method 1500 ends.

A means for initiating a reduced level cell (RLC) mode for a region oftriple level cell (TLC) non-volatile storage cells, in variousembodiments, may include a reduced level cell module 150, a triggermodule 202, a non-volatile memory controller 124, an SML 130, anon-volatile memory media controller 126, a device driver, other logichardware, and/or other executable code stored on a computer readablestorage medium. Other embodiments may include similar or equivalentmeans for initiating a reduced level cell (RLC) mode for a region oftriple level cell (TLC) non-volatile storage cells.

A means for programming a most significant bit (MSB) page of a region ofstorage cells with a predefined data pattern configured to determinewhich TLC abodes of the region of storage cells are available for validdata in the RLC mode, in various embodiments, may include a reducedlevel cell module 150, a program module 204, an endurance module 206, apattern module 214, a non-volatile memory controller 124, an SML 130, anon-volatile memory media controller 126, a device driver, other logichardware, and/or other executable code stored on a computer readablestorage medium. Other embodiments may include similar or equivalentmeans for programming a most significant bit (MSB) page of a region ofstorage cells with a predefined data pattern configured to determinewhich TLC abodes of the region of storage cells are available for validdata in the RLC mode.

A means for providing at least a predefined separation distance betweenthe TLC abodes available for valid data in the RLC mode, in variousembodiments, may include a reduced level cell module 150, a programmodule 204, an endurance module 206, a pattern module 214, a thresholdmodule 216, a non-volatile memory controller 124, an SML 130, anon-volatile memory media controller 126, a device driver, other logichardware, and/or other executable code stored on a computer readablestorage medium. Other embodiments may include similar or equivalentmeans for providing at least a predefined separation distance betweenthe TLC abodes available for valid data in the RLC mode.

A means for determining a predefined data pattern based on valid datafor TLC abodes to place at least one unavailable abode between TLCabodes available for valid data, in various embodiments, may include areduced level cell module 150, an endurance module 206, a pattern module214, a non-volatile memory controller 124, an SML 130, a non-volatilememory media controller 126, a device driver, other logic hardware,and/or other executable code stored on a computer readable storagemedium. Other embodiments may include similar or equivalent means fordetermining a predefined data pattern based on valid data for TLC abodesto place at least one unavailable abode between TLC abodes available forvalid data.

A means for adjusting one or more boundaries of TLC abodes to provide atleast a predefined separation distance, in various embodiments, mayinclude a reduced level cell module 150, a program module 204, anendurance module 206, a threshold module 216, a non-volatile memorycontroller 124, an SML 130, a non-volatile memory media controller 126,a device driver, other logic hardware, and/or other executable codestored on a computer readable storage medium. Other embodiments mayinclude similar or equivalent means for adjusting one or more boundariesof TLC abodes to provide at least a predefined separation distance.

The present disclosure may be embodied in other specific forms withoutdeparting from its spirit or essential characteristics. The describedembodiments are to be considered in all respects only as illustrativeand not restrictive. The scope of the disclosure is, therefore,indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoingdescription. All changes which come within the meaning and range ofequivalency of the claims are to be embraced within their scope.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: determining that an eraseblock of a non-volatile storage device is to operate in a reduced levelcell (RLC) mode, the non-volatile storage device configured to store atleast three bits of data per storage cell; instructing the non-volatilestorage device to program a first page of the erase block with data;instructing the non-volatile storage device to program a second page ofthe erase block with data; and instructing the non-volatile storagedevice to program a third page of the erase block with a predefined datapattern, the programming of the predefined data pattern configured toadjust which abodes of the erase block are available to represent storeduser data values, wherein the first, second, and third pages areassociated with a same set of storage cells of the erase block.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising performing an operation on thedata of the first page and the data of the second page, wherein resultsof the operation comprise the predefined data pattern for the thirdpage.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the operation comprises an XNORlogical equality operation such that the available abodes of the eraseblock are not adjacent, one or more unavailable abodes being disposedbetween the available abodes.
 4. The method of claim 2, furthercomprising buffering the data of the first page and the data of thesecond page prior to programming the first page and the second page ofthe erase block, the operation performed on the buffered data.
 5. Themethod of claim 4, wherein the data of the first page and the data ofthe second page are buffered in one or more different erase blocks ofthe non-volatile storage device such that the data of the first page andthe data of the second page may be programmed to the erase block after arestart event for the non-volatile storage device.
 6. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising adjusting, for the RLC mode, one or morethresholds for the abodes of the TLC mode to provide one or moreseparation distances between the available abodes.
 7. The method ofclaim 6, wherein the one or more thresholds are set to merge at leastone of the available abodes with at least one abode unavailable torepresent stored user data to provide the one or more separationdistances.
 8. The method of claim 6, wherein the one or more thresholdsare set to move adjacent available abodes away from each other toprovide the one or more separation distances.
 9. The method of claim 1,further comprising maintaining a page of data in a different erase blockof the non-volatile storage device, the page of data comprising thepredefined data pattern for programming the third page.
 10. The methodof claim 1, wherein the predefined data pattern comprises errorcorrection information for one or more of the data of the first page andthe data of the second page.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein up tohalf of the abodes of the TLC mode are available to represent storeduser data in the RLC mode.
 12. An apparatus comprising: a trigger moduleconfigured to determine whether an error rate for a set of non-volatilememory cells satisfies an error threshold; a program module configuredto write workload data to one or more lower and middle pages of the setof memory cells with each memory cell configured to represent at leastthree bits of data by way of one of a set of program states; and anendurance module configured to write an endurance data pattern to anupper page of the set of memory cells instead of workload data to theupper page in response to the error rate satisfying the error threshold,thereby defining a subset of the program states of the set of memorycells for encoding workload data.
 13. The apparatus of claim 12, furthercomprising a threshold module configured to adjust one or morethresholds for the program states of the set of memory cells in responseto the error rate satisfying the error threshold to provide one or moreseparation distances between the subset of the program states selectedfor encoding workload data.
 14. The apparatus of claim 12, furthercomprising a pattern module configured to determine the endurancepattern based on the workload data for the one or more lower and middlepages.
 15. The apparatus of claim 12, further comprising a retirementmodule configured to retire the set of memory cells from storingworkload data in response to the error rate satisfying a retirementerror threshold.
 16. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the programmodule is further configured to write workload data to the upper page ofthe set of memory cells in response to the error rate failing to satisfythe error threshold.
 17. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein theendurance data pattern is selected for use defining subsets of programstates for different architectures of non-volatile memory cells, thedifferent architectures comprising different arrangements of programstates for a predefined data encoding for the program states of thenon-volatile memory cells.
 18. An apparatus comprising: a trigger moduleconfigured to monitor an error rate for a region of non-volatilerecording cells, each recording cell configured to encode at least threebits of data using a set of abodes; a program module configured to causeuser data to be programmed to the recording cells for two bits of the atleast three bits of data; and an endurance module configured to adjustone or more thresholds for the abodes of the recording cells, inresponse to the error rate satisfying an error threshold, to provide oneor more separation distances between a subset of the abodes availablefor encoding the two bits of the at least three bits of data.
 19. Theapparatus of claim 18, wherein the third bit of the at least three bitsof data is un-programmed in response to the error rate satisfying theerror threshold.
 20. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the endurancemodule is configured to cause a data pattern to be programmed to thethird bit of the at least three bits of data, the programming of thedata pattern configured to determine which subset of the abodes isavailable for encoding the two bits of the at least three bits of data.21. A method comprising: receiving a write command to write data to anelectronic memory device having multi-level cell (MLC) memory elements,wherein each MLC memory element is programmable to programming states ina MLC mode, wherein each programming state in the MLC mode is associatedwith at least a two bit encoding; and programming at least one of theMLC memory elements to one of a plurality of programming states in areduced-level cell (RLC) mode, wherein the programming states in the RLCmode exclude at least one of the programming states in the MLC mode, andthe programming states in the RLC mode comprise first and second statesused to represent a most significant bit (MSB) of the at least two bitencoding in the MLC mode.
 22. The method of claim 21, further comprisingdynamically switching between the MLC mode and a single level cell (SLC)mode in response to a trigger event by way of not addressing one or morepages comprising certain bits of the MLC memory elements.
 23. The methodof claim 21, wherein the first state comprises an erase state, thesecond state comprises a lower state of a pair of adjacent states of thedesignated programming states, and the pair of adjacent states of thedesignated programming states represent bit values with a common MSBvalue. 24-28. (canceled)